Proxy Voting
1. Proxy Voting Principles
We will exercise the voting rights for shares pertaining to client assets and trust assets (hereinafter referred to as “Investment Portfolios”) for which investment decisions are entrusted to us, based on a reasonable judgment of what will best serve the financial interests of the client or beneficiary. When exercising our voting rights, we will aim to increase the value of shares held in the Investment Portfolios or to prevent the loss of the value of such shares. We will follow our Proxy Voting Regulations when making specific decisions on proxy voting.
2. Decision-Making Processes and Organizational Structure for Proxy Voting
The Investment Policy Committee makes the final decision on the exercising of our proxy voting rights. In the decision-making process, a fund manager drafts a proposal for exercising voting rights and the head of the Equity Strategy Department both approves and submits that proposal to the Investment Policy Committee.
3. Proxy Voting Guidelines
We have set forth guidelines for the exercising of proxy voting rights. When going about exercising our voting rights, it is our policy to respect the management decisions made by individual companies and to not exercise our voting rights as a means of resolving specific social or political issues. We will carefully scrutinize a proposal particularly in cases involving the exercising of voting rights by a company if it falls under any of the following circumstances:
- The company has violated the law or has been involved in anti-social activities
- The company’s audit opinion is not unqualified
- When it has been deemed that the company’s disclosure of information is inappropriate and that it will serve to harm shareholder interests
- When the company has continued to experience a significant slump in business performance or investment returns, and its management has been deemed to have made insufficient efforts to address that situation
- When the company’s business or financial strategy has been deemed to harm shareholder interests
- The company’s board of directors or board of corporate auditors has been deemed to be inappropriate in terms of size, composition, etc. and it has been deemed that it will harm shareholder interests
- When there are other circumstances that have clearly been deemed to harm shareholder interests
- When the proposal has been submitted by shareholders
4. Proxy Voting Results
Our proxy voting results are as shown below.