AMP Capital is at the forefront of corporate governance initiatives. Recognising that we can influence company policy on matters of corporate governance by virtue of the shareholdings under our management, we lodge considered proxy votes on all resolutions and engage with companies on specific matters.
This is done in the interests of driving better long-term outcomes for our clients.
Our Corporate Governance Credentials
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Transparency
To assist our clients in achieving the returns on their investments that they expect, we seek high standards of transparency, corporate governance and social responsibility from the companies in which we invest. This involves monitoring and entering into dialogue with companies on key aspects of their corporate governance and their relationship with society as a whole.
Read our
asset stewardship statement
to find out more. -
Proxy Voting
Recognising that we can influence company policy on matters of corporate governance by virtue of the shareholdings under our management, we lodge considered proxy votes on all resolutions and engage with companies on issues such as executive remuneration, board composition and risk management.
View our Proxy Voting Policy -
Detailed Analysis
For us flashing lights appear when companies lack transparency, when boards are not representative of their public shareholders, or when pay structures reward management for actions contrary to shareholder interests. Diligent analysis of these issues can help identify which companies to invest in and which to avoid.
View our regular
Corporate Governance reports
to find out more.
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Proxy Voting information & Disclosures
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We believe it is our fiduciary duty to exercise voting rights at companies where we hold shares. For more than 20 years we have submitted considered proxy voting instructions on all resolutions where we have the authority to vote. Since 2005 AMP Capital’s Corporate Governance Reports have included a summary of votes cast. Each edition contains an explanation of our proxy voting activity and lists the companies where votes were cast against director-election or remuneration-related resolutions.
Proxy voting also needs to be disclosed on a per scheme, per investment, and per resolution basis under Financial Services Council requirements* as shown below.
* FSC Standard No.13: voting policy, voting record, and disclosure
Most recent proxy voting disclosures:
- AMP Capital Wholesale Australian Equity Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Wholesale Australian Property Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Australian Equity Income Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Australian Emerging Companies Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Core Property Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Equity Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Specialist Property and Infrastructure Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Global Infrastructure Securities Fund (Unhedged) - 2022
- AMP Capital Global Property Securities Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Listed Property Trusts Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Property Securities Fund - 2022
- AMP Capital Enhanced Index Share Fund - 2022
We have dedicated internal resources that deal with the analysis and execution of proxy voting. As a pioneer of shareholder engagement and proxy voting in Australia, our proxy analysis benefits from strong corporate access and a comprehensive in-house database. We supplement our internal research by subscribing to proxy advisor research from Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis and ISS. Each proxy advisor is contracted to provide advice on a different region. The nature of advice received, and the extent to which it influences our voting decisions, varies between advisers and regions.
Corporate governance reports
After each proxy season AMP Capital publishes a comprehensive corporate governance report. This report discloses our voting statistics, names companies where resolutions were voted against and presents various topical articles and research on governance.
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2022
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Review: Proxy Voting, ESG and Investment Stewardship report
- AMP Capital’s approach to ESG
- 2021 Highlights: ESG in action
- Working with the companies we invest in
- Engagement meetings
- AMP Capital’s key ESG focus areas
- Climate Change
- Impact of Covid-19
- Human capital
- Governance
- Indigenous rights
- Proxy voting
- Internally-managed and voted
- Shareholder resolutions
- Externally-managed and voted
- Proxy Advice
Strength in numbers
Reflecting on 20 years of proxy voting and company engagement
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2021
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Review: Proxy Voting & ESG Investment Research – April 2021
- AMP Capital’s approach to ESG
- Shareholders take action
- Proxy Voting
- Internally Managed Funds
- Australian Equities
- Global Equities
- Externally-Managed and Voted
- Multi-Manager
- New Zealand
- Internally Managed Funds
- Sustainable investing and our investment insights
- Hydrogen
- Next generation investors
- Modern slavery
- Tobacco-free portfolios
- Ability in focus
- Climate change
- COVID-19
- Worker exploitation
- Valuing bees
- Corporate governance
- Fast fashion
- Safety and privacy
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2020
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Review: Proxy Voting & ESG Investment Research – March 2020
- AMP Capital’s approach to ESG
- Shareholders take action
- Proxy Voting
- Internally Managed Funds
- Australian Equities
- Global Equities
- Externally-Managed and Voted
- Multi-Manager
- New Zealand
- Internally Managed Funds
- Sustainable investing and ESG Wrap
- Sustainable investment environment
- Climate Change
- Energy
- Equality and Diversity
- Modern Slavery
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Real Estate
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2019
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Review: Proxy Voting & ESG Investment Research – March 2019
- AMP Capital’s approach to ESG
- Shareholders take action
- Proxy Voting
- Internally Managed Funds
- Australian Equities
- Global Equities
- Externally-Managed and Voted
- Multi-Manager
- New Zealand
- Internally Managed Funds
- ESG Wrap
- Climate change
- Social media & Data privacy
- Supply chain & human rights
- Waste
- Sugar & nutrition
- Wage underpayment
- Gender diversity
- Scandals & reputation
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2018
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Review: Proxy Voting & ESG Investment Research – March 2018
- AMP Capital’s approach to ESG
- Shareholders take action
- Proxy Voting
- Internally Managed Funds
- Australian Equities
- Global Equities
- Externally-Managed and Voted
- Multi-Manager
- New Zealand
- Internally Managed Funds
- Research Highlights
- Real Estates
- Carbon Foot-printing
- Health
- Gender Diversity
- Corporate Governance
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2017
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- AMP Capital’s approach to ESG
- The what, why and how
- ESG trends to watch
- The ethical dilemma
- Is it OK to exclude companies purely on ethical grounds?
- Remuneration
- Can everything of value be measured?
- AMP Capital Report 2016: Gender Diversity
- The real reason we are still talking about it
- Shareholder engagement
- Current themes
- Overview of proxy voting
- AMP Capital Managed Funds
- Australian Funds
- International
- Asian Equities
- Global Listed Real Estate
- Global Listed Infrastructure
- Externally-managed portfolios
- Multi-asset Funds
- New Zealand Funds
- AMP Capital’s approach to ESG
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2016
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Mid-year report - September 2016
- Disruption in financial services… through the eyes of an ESG analyst
- Driverless cars, the sharing economy and blockchain are three of the top sources of disruption for Australia’s insurance and diversified financial services sector, according to AMP Capital’s latest Corporate Governance Report.
- Disruption is an integral part of AMP Capital’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) research into Australian companies. The way these companies position themselves for change provides ESG analysts with unique key investment insights.
- Gender diversity on boards: celebrating Australia’s progress
- It’s easy to be disheartened about the state of board diversity in Australia when less than 25 percent of company directors are women. But rather than dwell on the negatives, recognition of Australia’s solid progress provides plenty of reasons to celebrate.
- Just five years ago, women’s representation on the boards of Australia’s major companies was barely more than 10 percent. Since then, the number of board seats filled by women has risen sharply. The pace of improvement in Australia has been strong, especially when compared to the United States where progress appears to have slowed.
- How investors manage climate change risk in their portfolios
- AMP Capital considered how investment returns may be impacted by climate change and the decisions countries make as a result of their need to set ambitious emissions reduction targets. Understanding the climate change risk that might sit within an investor’s portfolio is not straight forward. There are three main climate change risks that manifest themselves in equity and corporate bond portfolios:
- Impact on company valuations as a result of policies to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the companies (and their value chains) within a portfolio.
- Impact on company valuations of fossil-fuel producers and distributers as a result of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Impact on company valuations from the physical impacts of climate change.
- AMP Capital considered how investment returns may be impacted by climate change and the decisions countries make as a result of their need to set ambitious emissions reduction targets. Understanding the climate change risk that might sit within an investor’s portfolio is not straight forward. There are three main climate change risks that manifest themselves in equity and corporate bond portfolios:
- Global Connections
- An overview of what AMP Capital’s ESG team has been up to – connecting globally
- Disruption in financial services… through the eyes of an ESG analyst
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2015
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Full-year report - February 2016
- CEO pay: How much is too much?
- Companies often fall into the trap of paying their CEO ‘what everyone else pays’. After finding the total pay of CEOs can be many times that of the next highest paid executive in that organisation AMP Capital ponders whether the premium is justified.
- Gender diversity: Will the gender diversity of boards reach 30 per cent?
- The boards of Australian companies are becoming more gender-diverse. In this article AMP Capital reports on the initiatives driving this change and investigates what more can be done.
- Paris Climate Conference: What to make of the Paris Agreement
- As the global implications of climate change become more widely understood, it is pleasing to see countries work together to address the challenges. In this article AMP Capital considers the ramifications as well as the winners and losers of a commitment to limit global warming.
Mid-year report - September 2015
Data and Cyber Security
- The Banking Sector ... through the eyes of an ESG analyst
- In the news:
- Human rights: an investor issue?
- The role of ethics in business and finance
- New rules on disclosure
- Proxy Voting Statistics
- CEO pay: How much is too much?
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2014
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- Gender diversity: The smart thing to do
- Obesity: The (investment) risks of being ‘overweight’
- Coal seam gas: How important is it?
- Shareholder engagement: Current themes
- Governance - Going global
- ESG - sharing insights with global asset owners and investors
- Supply chain risks - Bangladesh field trip
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2013
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- Leadership matters: how an ‘intangible factor’ such as the quality of a company’s leadership affects shareholder returns and the importance of good leadership succession planning
- ESG myth-busting: dispelling ‘myths’ around the impact Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors can have on investments.
- The challenges of mining in developing countries
- Stranded assets: how big is the issue?
- Gender diversity: Recent observations including that on AMP Capital’s assessment there is a positive correlation between a company’s governance quality and the number of women that sit on its board.
- Are shareholders getting the companies they deserve? Is there enough focus on the long-term?
- The need for good communication between shareholders and companies
- Why ‘supply chain’ management is a human rights AND investment issue
- A look at how understanding ESG factors can add to fund performance
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2012
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Full year report - January 2013
- The two-strikes rule and why shareholders care about pay
- AREITs - a case study in corporate governance risk
- AMP Capital 2012 proxy voting statistics (Australian and global)
- Governance in brief
- Why investors should care about ESG
- Two strike rule: will boards be spilled?
- Snippets (including 'Cost of combined CEO/Chairman')
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2011
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Full year report - February 2012
- Remuneration: Why so many chairmen engaged with AMP Capital this year
- Aligning pay with performance: a shareholder's perspective
- Snippets (including 'More women on ASX boards')
Mid year report - September 2011
- Two-strikes and you're out
- Australia's clean energy future
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2010
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Full year report - January 2011
- Has the GFC provided a tipping point for ESG?
- Proxy advisers: are investors better off with them?
- Remuneration: consider the consequences
- Gender diversity - does it matter?
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Important notes
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While every care has been taken in the preparation of this information contained in this website, neither AMP Capital Investors Limited (ABN 59 001 777 591)(AFSL 232497) nor any member of the AMP Group make any representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any statement in it including without limitation, any forecasts. This content has been prepared for the purpose of providing general information only, without taking account of any particular investor’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Investors should, before making any investment decisions, consider the appropriateness of the information on this website, and seek professional advice, having regard to their objectives, financial situation and needs. Content sourced from Cuffelinks and Livewire does not represent the views of AMP Capital or any member of the AMP Group. All information on this website is subject to change without notice.