Adoption of Japan's Stewardship Code in Corporate Pension Asset Management

Mar. 31, 2021

Sumitomo Chemical announces that it has adopted Japan’s Stewardship Code (Code), the principles for “responsible institutional investors,” as an institutional investor, i.e., an asset owner of a corporate pension.

This Code was officially announced by the Financial Services Agency in 2014 with the objective of having institutional investors enhance the medium- to long-term investment return for their beneficiaries by improving the corporate value of investee companies and promoting their sustainable growth through constructive engagement and purposeful dialogue. The revised Code 2020 incorporated a clause calling for institutional investors to give consideration to sustainability, including ESG elements consistent with their investment management strategies.

Sumitomo Chemical has been implementing a contract-type defined benefit pension plan as one of its corporate pension plans. For its investment management, the company requests investment managers to engage in stewardship activities from the standpoint of an asset owner, while fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities to the beneficiaries as it is in agreement with the aims of the Code. Specifically, the company requests that investment managers formulate, disclose, and comply with clear guidelines in response to conflicts of interest, and establish governance structures. More than once a year, the company reports to the beneficiaries of the corporate pension on the progress of these efforts relating to the Code.

Sumitomo Chemical is committed to achieving sustainable growth of the Sumitomo Chemical Group and a sustainable society by contributing to the development of mankind and society through its business activities, as set out in its management principles. For the asset management of the corporate pension, the company continues to make efforts so that it can contribute as the asset owner, to the medium- to long-term improvement in corporate value of the investee companies through activities of its contracted asset managers.

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