Benjamin Colton is Global Head of Asset Stewardship, and Michael Younis is Vice President of Asset Stewardship at State Street Global Advisors. This post is based on their SSGA memorandum.
How We Engage
Our Asset Stewardship team has developed our Global Issuer and Stakeholder Engagement Guidelines to increase the transparency of our engagement philosophy, approach, and processes. This protocol is designed to communicate the objectives of our engagement activities and to facilitate a better understanding of our preferred terms of engagement with our investee companies. The protocol explains key engagement processes including:
- Methodology for developing our annual engagement strategy
- Information to include in engagement request emails
- Information on how to request R-Factor scores
- Our guidelines for engaging with investee companies
- Our guidelines for engaging with activist investors or investors directly connected
to Vote-No campaigns or shareholder proposals - Investor engagement protocol guidance
We review our Global Issuer and Stakeholder Engagement Guidelines annually as part of our strategic review process to ensure that our interactions with companies remain effective and meaningful. This includes reviewing indicators in our screening models and assessing emerging issues and trends.
Additionally, we take into account individual market nuances when evaluating practices or engaging on certain issues, as well as market practices and norms for engagement.