SEI Enhances Global Investment Stewardship Strategy

With Focus on Climate Change, SEI Joins Climate Action 100+

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Jan 07, 2021, 08:30 ET

OAKS, Pa., Jan. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC) today announced the launch of a global investment stewardship strategy that will embed sustainability into shareholder engagement and proxy voting practices across the company's approximately $248.1 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2020. This enhanced strategy builds on more than a decade of stewardship activity in SEI's Irish fund complex, expanding on SEI's existing European stewardship program.

"We recognize that our voice as shareholders is meaningful to the companies in which we invest. We take our role as investment stewards seriously and seek to use our voice—through engagement and proxy voting—to support long-term management of environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities across our investments," said Kevin Barr, Head of SEI's Investment Management Unit. "We will integrate insights learned from engagement into proxy voting across our global asset base. With a significant increase in assets in the stewardship program, we look forward to increasing our voice in the market and supporting our longstanding commitment to voting in our clients' best interests."

By participating in collaborative investor initiatives, including a strategic partnership with Sustainalytics, SEI will focus engagement activity on global norms and standards, as well as sustainability themes shaping the future of the global economy. Sustainalytics, a leading global provider of ESG research and ratings, provides a suite of active ownership offerings, including investor engagement services as well as an ESG voting policy overlay service. Engagement will continue to focus on the consistent application of guidelines, including the United Nations (UN) Global Compact, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights. Additionally, sustainability-focused thematic engagement programs will proactively engage companies on a range of sustainability risks and opportunities related to climate change and progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

SEI has also joined Climate Action 100+, an investor-led initiative to engage companies whose businesses and operations have an opportunity to mitigate climate change and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

"Climate change presents systemic risks to the global economy, while many companies and sectors that proactively address this megatrend may benefit from the transition to a low-carbon economy," said Jana Holt, Global Director of Sustainable Investing Solutions in SEI's Investment Management Unit. "By becoming a signatory to Climate Action 100+, we join more than 500 institutional investors globally in an effort to work with companies to improve governance of climate risks and opportunities, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthen climate-related financial disclosures."

About SEI
After 50 years in business, SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC) remains a leading global provider of investment processing, investment management, and investment operations solutions designed to help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and ultra-high-net-worth families create and manage wealth. As of Sept. 30, 2020, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI manages, advises or administers approximately $1 trillion in hedge, private equity, mutual fund and pooled or separately managed assets, including approximately $330 billion in assets under management and $755 billion in client assets under administration. For more information, visit seic.com.

About Sustainalytics, a Morningstar Company
Sustainalytics, a Morningstar Company, is a leading ESG research, ratings and data firm that supports investors around the world with the development and implementation of responsible investment strategies. For more than 25 years, the firm has been at the forefront of developing high-quality, innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of global investors. Today, Sustainalytics works with hundreds of the world's leading asset managers and pension funds who incorporate ESG and corporate governance information and assessments into their investment processes. Sustainalytics also works with hundreds of companies and their financial intermediaries to help them consider sustainability in policies, practices and capital projects. With 17 offices globally, Sustainalytics has more than 800 staff members, including more than 300 analysts with varied multidisciplinary expertise across more than 40 industry groups. For more information, visit www.sustainalytics.com.

About Climate Action 100+
Launched in 2017, Climate Action 100+ is a five-year investor-led initiative to engage systemically important greenhouse gas emitters (and other companies across the global economy) that have significant opportunities to drive the clean energy transition and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.