As a responsible investor, with $617 billion assets under management (AUM) as of 31 December 2023, stewardship activities are an integral part of our investment process. By helping investee companies improve their ESG position, we can maximise long-term investment returns for our clients. Our stewardship activities consist of three key pillars: engagement with companies (constructive and purposeful dialogue), the exercise of voting rights and initiatives that encourage companies to improve their response to ESG issues.

Aiming for impactful results, we collaborate with global initiatives:  we are signatories of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) since 2006 and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAMI), as examples. Our stewardship activities are led by a dedicated team based in Tokyo, the UK and the US, working closely with our credit and equity research analysts.

Image

1500+ engagements in a year to June 2022

Image

5-star PRI score in 2021 (after previously receiving an A+ score for 6 years in a row from 2015 to 2020)

Image

Voted against investee companies in Japan in 19.9% of company proposals in a year to June 2022

Image

330 companies have committed to corporate action based on SuMi TRUST’s engagement

Our Responsible Investment Initiatives

Our Annual Stewardship Report

2023/2024

2022/2023

2021/2022

2020/2021

2019/2020

2018/2019

Supporting Value Creation in the Investment Chain

Sustainable growth of investee companies drives growth in earnings, and growth in earnings drives growth in dividends and wages which, ultimately, benefits household economies and the growth of the economy as a whole. All of this together is known as the investment chain. At SuMi TRUST, we actively utilize our role as an asset manager in the investment chain to support our investee companies to create value, leading to maximum returns for our clients, while at the same time contributing to the achievement of the SDGs.

Image
Investment Chain Enhancement 2022

Our mission is to maximize medium- to long-term return on investment for clients by improving corporate value over a medium- to long-term period for investee companies, and acquiring excess return through investment while raising the market as a whole. To accomplish these, we identify issues with each investee company, and conduct effective and efficient engagement.

Our engagement approach consists of the (1) market cap approach, (2) risk approach, and (3) top-down approach. We select targets of the market cap approach on the basis of management situations, importance of management issues, and market capitalization, among other matters. The risk approach targets companies for which opposition votes were cast in the exercise of voting rights (low ROE, etc.) and companies that have engaged in misconduct. We select target companies for the top-down approach on the basis of our ESG12 topics, and perform stage management for engagement.

Our Engagement Process

Image
SMTAM engagement process.PNG

Related News & Insights

Image
Photograph of an engineer inspecting solar panels
Press Release

SuMi TRUST Sets Interim NZAMI Targets

In July 2021, SuMi TRUST became a signatory to the NAMZI and is pleased to announce its interim 2030 target for green house gas emissions from assets under its management.
Image
Photo of a bamboo forest
News

The Wave of Greening is Coming to Japan

The wave of greening is rushing into Japan as the country rapidly catches up with rest of the world. In its latest green growth strategy and goals towards carbon neutrality by 2050, the Government of Japan has set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030 (as compared to 2013 levels).
Image
Photograph of an engineer inspecting solar panels
Press Release

Participation in the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management Co., Ltd. (Representative Director and President: Yoshio Hishida; hereinafter "SuMi TRUST") is pleased to announce that it has become a signatory to the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, a new initiative launched in December 2020 by global asset managers that seeks to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of investee companies to net zero by 2050.

Image
Photo of people in an office
News

Japan's Governance Code Revision

In June, a revised Corporate Governance Code was released. The Code was revised taking the reform of the Japanese stock market into consideration. It will go into effect in April next year, with the top-tier listings going into the Prime Market corresponding to the current First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange(TSE).