Spotlight on Capital Group: Opportunities to Embed Fundamental Labour Rights in Investment Stewardship
Capital Group is the world’s 7th largest asset manager. The US-headquartered firm is an active investor which often ranks as a top 10 shareholder in the companies where it invests, including priority cases among CWC participating trade unions, such as Amazon and Wizz Air. The manager has a client base in the Americas (Canada, the USA), Asia Pacific (including Australia) and Europe. Institutional investors (including pension funds) make up 37%, or USD 0.9tn of its client base.
The CWC Secretariat analysed Capital Group against three of the four categories that figure in the CWC Baseline Expectations for Asset Managers on Fundamental Labour Rights. The report comprises an analysis of the manager’s: 1) Stewardship framework, 2) Stewardship practices in public equities (including shareholder engagement and proxy voting) and 3) policy advocacy.
Report Highlights
- Capital Group references international norms and frameworks like the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
- Capital Group’s ESG policy lacks details on the criteria for engagement with companies and escalation tactics used when severe adverse labour rights impacts occur.
- The manager could improve ESG stewardship practices by disclosing its proxy voting record and listing the companies it engages with on a quarterly basis, in line with practices of other global asset managers.
- Capital Group could enhance its transparency by publishing its responses to public policy consultations in a centralized location on its website on a quarterly basis.
This report on Capital Group is current up to June 9th, 2022.
