Proxy voting guidelines
The Robeco proxy voting policy relies on the internationally accepted set of principles of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN). The ICGN Principles reflect both the Principles of Corporate Governance of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and principles developed by the ICGN itself. Following here are the summarized ICGN principles.
Principle 1: Board role and responsibilities
The board should promote the long-term best interests of the company by acting on an informed basis with good faith, care and loyalty, for the benefit of shareholders, while having regard to relevant stakeholders.
Principle 2: Leadership and independence
Board leadership requires clarity and balance in board and executive roles and an integrity of independent process to protect the interests of shareholders and relevant stakeholders in promoting the long-term success of the company.
Principle 3: Composition and appointment
The board should comprise a sufficient mix of directors with relevant knowledge, independence, competence, industry experience and diversity of perspectives to generate effective challenge, discussion and objective decision-making in alignment with the company’s purpose, long-term strategy and relevant stakeholders.
Principle 4: Corporate culture
The board should instil and demonstrate a culture of high standards of business ethics and integrity aligned with the company’s purpose and values at board level and throughout the workforce.
Principle 5: Remuneration
Remuneration should be designed to equitably and effectively align the interests of the CEO, executive officers and workforce with a company’s strategy and purpose to help ensure long-term sustainable value preservation and creation. Aggregate remuneration should be appropriately balanced with the payment of dividends to shareholders and retention of capital for future investment and the level of quantum should be defendable relative to social considerations relating to inequality.
Principle 6: Risk oversight
The board should proactively oversee the assessment and disclosure of the company’s key risks and approve the approach to risk management and internal controls regularly or with any significant business change and satisfy itself that the approach is functioning effectively.
Principle 7: Corporate reporting
Boards should oversee timely and reliable company disclosures for shareholders and relevant stakeholders relating to the company’s financial position, approach to sustainability, performance, business model, strategy, and long-term prospects.
Principle 8: Internal and external audit
The board should establish rigorous, independent and effective internal and external audit
procedures, to ensure the quality and integrity of corporate reporting.
Principle 9: Shareholder rights
Rights of all shareholders should be equal and must be protected. Fundamental to this protection is ensuring that a shareholder’s voting rights are directly linked to its economic stake, and that minority shareholders have voting rights on key decisions or transactions which affect their interest in the company.
Principle 10: Shareholder meetings
Boards should ensure that meetings with shareholders are efficiently, democratically and securely facilitated to enable constructive interactivity and accountability for the company’s long-term strategy, performance, and approach to sustainable value creation upon which voting decisions may be influenced.