Investment Policies

This section includes a number of our policies relating to the discretionary investment management services/segregated accounts offered by Barings.

UK Stewardship Code 2020
Barings is supportive of the principles of the revised code.

EU Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II)
SRD II is a EU regulatory requirement, which aims to promote better stakeholder engagement and improve transparency in the ownership of companies listed in the EEA. The directive requires asset managers and asset owners to make disclosures about their long-term investment strategies, their arrangements with each other and their respective engagement with the companies they invest in. The rules seek to improve transparency by enhancing the flow of information across the institutional investment community and by promoting common stewardship objectives.

The attached document outlines our Public Equities Investment team’s ‘ESG Integration and Active Ownership Policy’.

The annual disclosure that asset managers are required to make under Article 3g of the directive (i.e. voting behaviour and the use of the services of proxy advisers) can be found within the reports in the adjacent box titled ‘Related Documents’. Please refer to the proxy voting records and Global Proxy Voting Policy.

FCA TCFD Reporting
In December 2021, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its policy statement (PS21/24) setting out final rules and guidance relating to the requirements under a new climate-related disclosure regime for asset managers and asset owners. The new rules require asset managers and fund providers to publish entity- and product-level TCFD reports by 30^th June 2023 or 2024. The Barings UK group contains one authorised fund manager: its funds under management is below the threshold for it to be in scope of the product level disclosure requirements. There are two investment firms in the UK group – Baring Asset Management Limited (BAML) and Baring International Investment Limited (BIIL) who are required to make entity-level disclosures in line with the Taskforce for Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) framework by 30^th June 2024. The disclosure for these firms has been incorporated into the Barings Group TCFD Report, which is located in the Sustainability section of this website. As a global asset management group, Barings adopts a consistent approach for the management of clients’ portfolios, including in relation to climate risks and opportunities. The information for BAML and BIIL has been incorporated into the report.

European Product Approval Process
Barings is committed to meeting the current and evolving needs of its clients and has established robust governance arrangements to help achieve this goal. Barings’ governance arrangements include a product approval process for the launch of new products which aims to provide good outcomes for investors by ensuring the launch of products that are suitable, appropriate and targeted accordingly. The attached document sets out our European product approval process.

Barings has produced MiFID II compliant target market and costs and charges information for all products distributed in the EU. If you are a distributor that requires access to this information, please contact the following email address: MIFIDOperationalReporting@Barings.com.