UBS Asset Management (“UBS”) is the world’s 13th largest asset manager with USD 1.1 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Of this amount, institutional investors – including pension funds - account for 59% of their global client base.

The CWC’s analysis finds that UBS’s stewardship framework makes an effort to implement a double-materiality perspective that is conducive to holding companies accountable on labour rights. We were encouraged by elements of UBS’s stewardship framework, such as the importance it places on breaches of the UN Global Compact, its policy on collaborating with other investors, its consideration of portfolio companies’ human rights due diligence processes and its reference to collective bargaining.

However, the analysis demonstrates that there are gaps between UBS’s public policies and its stewardship practice in terms of upholding fundamental labour rights in its portfolios. The report outlines key steps and case studies where the asset manager can improve its approach to engagement and proxy voting based on global trade union priorities.