Participants engage in an informative Q&A session

Engagement Around the World
ASrIA Briefing by Peter Webster, Executive Director of EIRIS, an ESG research provider

With Special Thanks to Deloitte for Providing the Venue

Invitation Letter:
http://www.asria.org/events/hongkong/100603_eiris

Special thanks to two long-standing ASrIA members, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (venue sponsor) and EIRIS, for well received presentations on investor engagement practices and trends around the world. The intimate briefing venue, a Deloitte boardroom, facilitated a very valuable exchange between Peter Webster, Executive Director of EIRIS, and the more than 20 participants.

P.C. Lim, Director of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, welcomed everyone to Deloitte and noted his long association with ASrIA and briefly remarked on the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues for his firm.

David St. Maur Sheil, Joint Executive Director of ASrIA, mentioned that ASrIA - with the support of the International Finance Corporation, an ASrIA member – is organising a series of Sustainable Investment Roundtables in key markets across Asia.

David also briefed us on the TBLI Asia conference held in Tokyo in late May. He noted that conference attendees were very much discussing investor engagement in Asia. He highlighted ASrIA's history of engaging corporates on ESG issues, notably as the Asia partner of the Carbon Disclosure Project in which we contact companies for their greenhouse gas emissions data and strategic thinking on de-carbonizing Asia's economic development.

Then Peter Webster, of EIRIS, described the work of EIRIS and introduced his engagement process. He detailed the characteristics and nature of the process and underscored the fact that there are a range of approaches, from letter-writing to strategic engagement.

Peter continued by briefly saying who typically works on engagement and then detailed the views of large asset owners on engagement. He noted the results of the PRI Member Survey (2009), describing it as "a very key document" which "didn't receive the publicity it deserved" at the launch event in Sydney. An interesting finding is that 44% asset owners and 84% of asset managers do engagement themselves.

Peter then gave more colour on how extensive these engagements are and the management of the process. He noted the global patterns and trends, highlighting the various differences in investor behaviour in different markets. For example, investors and U.S. corporates appear to be entering a new phase, whereby the dialogue between them is not as antagonistic as in years past but is actually welcomed.

He offered eight potential trends in engagement including the need for better models of collaboration and “long-distance” engagement. He concluded his remarks by drawing the participants in with key engagement considerations for Hong Kong investors. These included the importance of identifying the value add from engagement and learning one step at a time.

A lively Q&A followed Peter's presentation. PC then gave an overview of a project in Yunnan, China. Deloitte partnered with a rural community and offered a model of development in which other local communities wanted to emulate.

Sincere thanks to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu for their venue support, and to Peter Webster for his well received presentation as well as PC for his instructive remarks.