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LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, December 26 2006
07:30 WELCOME REGISTRATION HOSTED BY:  08:00 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST 08:40 HOST'S WELCOME Andy Melvin, Vice President, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT NETWORK LLC 08:45 CHAIRPERSON'S OPENING REMARKS Dr. Raj Thamotheram, Senior Advisor, UNIVERSITIES SUPERANNUATION SCHEME UK 09:00 TOWN HALL MEETING ON OPENNESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO OUR STAKEHOLDERS • Taking an "ethics" check: How important is it that this sector "walks its talk" and in general, how well are we doing? • How does the greater transparency square with growing competitiveness in the sector? • How important is stakeholder participation in these developments and reforms? And what happens when stakeholders disagree? • What is the role of the media and other key social partners? Moderator: Alfred Kool, Managing Partner, KOOL CORPORATE COMMUNICATION Panelists: Christopher R. O'Dea, Managing Director, MESIROW FINANCIAL Cor Brockhoven, Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, PGGM Professor Gordon L. Clark, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 10:00 POINT-COUNTERPOINT DISCUSSION: WHAT IS NEW TO SAY WITH REGARDS THE "BUSINESS CASE"? • What new evidence is there for the materiality of good corporate governance and corporate responsibility? • What are the current limits to the business case approach? • What is the emerging social contract between investor and corporation? Where are the fault-lines for the coming debate? Moderator: Amanda Haworth Wiklund, CARBON DISCLOSURE PROJECT Panelists: Alan Knight, Head of Standards, ACCOUNTABILITY Will Oulton, Head of Responsible Investment, FTSE Lars-Olle Larsson, Principal Director and Sustainability Assurance Leader, Sustainable Business Solutions, Assurance Services, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS Ylva Lindberg, Managing Director, SIGLA 10:45 Refreshments 11:00 GOVERNANCE RATINGS: WHAT ARE THEY MEASURING, DO THEY WORK, HOW ARE THEY BEING USED? A number of benchmark indices have been developed covering a number of different approaches to measuring the risks and returns of social, environmental and ethical performance. The key themes to be addressed in this session are: • Looking at the various rating services available • How do they differ? • Other products available: funds/indices and more • What do the latest research studies tell us about their effectivness? • Who uses these ratings and how? Discussion Leaders: Gavin Anderson, President and CEO, GOVERNANCE METRICS INTERNATIONAL Natacha Guerdat, Sustainable Analyst, Equity Research Team, LOMBARD ODIER Jeroen Derwall, Professor, MAASTRICHT AND ERASMUS UNIVERSITIES, Director, EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT 11:45 THE CHALLENGE OF INTEGRATION: BRINGING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO THE EQUATION FOR VALUE Integrating the efforts of corporate sustainable development (SD) into companies' financial analyses has been a difficult task but there are a growing number of practitioners who believe it can be done. How are they doing it, what do they have in common and how do they differ? • Where are the links between sustainable development and investment performance most obvious? • New tools and new projects for quantifying financial implications of SD • Linking global norms to social and environmental risk management: Helping the institutional investor • Looking ahead: next steps Session Facilitator: Dr. Raj Thamotheram, Senior Advisor, UNIVERSITIES SUPERANNUATION SCHEME UK Participants: Stephen Hine, Head of International Relations, ETHICAL INVESTMENT RESEARCH SERVICES (EIRIS) LTD. James O'Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer, JOL CONSULTING, former Head of Investment Process, C.I.S. Eric Gelfgren, Global Head of Marketing and Sales, SAM SUSTAINABLE ASSET MANAGEMENT Frank Figge, Professor of Corporate Social Responsibility, ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTRE 12:30 Luncheon 13:30 SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS: ENSURING EMPOWERMENT OF SHAREHOLDERS FOR THE BENEFIT OF WHOM? Improving the rights of shareholders is integral to improving corporate governance. The timely access of shareholders to the complete information relevant to general meetings and the exercise of the voting right by correspondence and by proxy is key, as are structural changes including the right to appoint directors. This session will examine the various modes of shareholder engagement and look at the opportunities available for its improvement. • Is there a clash of cultures between Anglo-Saxon and European capitalism and are corporate governance activists part of the solution or part of the problem? • Update on EU reforms for proxy voting • Increased risk of double-counting in proxy contests • The absence of majority voting for directors in the US market: what can be done? Moderator: Will Oulton, Head of Responsible Investment, FTSE Panelists: Nadine Viel Lamare, Head of Corporate Communications, AP-FONDEN 1 Robert Barrington, Senior Director, F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC Emma Hunt, Head of SRI Consulting, Europe, MERCER INVESTMENT CONSULTING 14:30 THE GREAT DIVIDE BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE FOR IMPLEMENTING CHANGE Most institutional investors shy away from conflict and the notion that legal action is a suitable tool to effectuate change. Although not always the mechanism of choice, institutional investors have considered the courts an ally in redressing substantial losses and abuses that have directly impacted shareholders and their constituencies. Not only is lack of action a potential breach of fiduciary responsibility, it undermines the long term integrity of the system we are charged to promote and develop. This session addresses how to determine when legal action is appropriate and incumbent. It also addresses: • How shareholder litigation bridges the gap between SRI and CSR through a mechanism that creates accountability and responsibility • A review of a model shareholder action –Tenet Healthcare Corporation—and how it served the collective good • The new role of litigation as a tool to be used wisely when due diligence failed at the front end of the investment process Speaker: Stuart L. Berman, Partner, SCHIFFRIN & BARROWAY LLP 15:00 Refreshments 15:15 PENSION FUND GOVERNANCE AND FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY The pressure for funds to adopt best practice in the area of their own governance is rising. What's the business case for action and what can a fund do in practice? The differing tactics available for showing good practice will be discussed in this session. • Does corporate governance of a pension fund matter and what are the benchmark standards today? • The link with investment strategy • What are the new investment beliefs – eg: universal investing, safeguarding inter-generational equity – that matter most? • Sarbanes-Oxley and its implications for pension funds • How well educated, trained and prepared are the trustees? • What are the structural impediments to positive change and what can be done about these? • Transparency, disclosure and accountability Moderator: Professor Gordon L. Clark, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD Panelists: Edwin Meysmans, Managing Director, KBC PENSIOENFONDS (BELGIUM) Peter Hurford, Assistant Treasurer, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL 16:15 EMERGING MARKET TRENDS FOR CORPORATE GOVERNANCE What are the issues and opportunities for corporate governance research and engagement in the emerging markets? This talk will highlight key findings on China from ISS' recently-published 2006 Global Institutional Investor Study, Corporate Governance: From Compliance Obligation to Business Imperative. This session will also cover the latest corporate governance developments in areas such as: • Asia • Latin America • Central and Eastern Europe Speaker: Michael Castello Vogt, Senior Associate & Manager, INSTITUTIONAL SHAREHOLDER SERVICES 17:00 THE CHALLENGE OF BROADENING THE SRI UNIVERSE: INCORPORATING SMALLER COMPANIES There is compelling evidence that by adding shares of Smaller companies to an investment portfolio, the actual return of the portfolio improves at equal or even lower risk rates. With an increasing number of institutional investors allocating companies that meet sustainable criteria to (part of) their portfolios, there are increasingly efficient ways to add European Smaller companies to the investable universe. Furthermore, the investment process of the Orange Sense Fund do not only focus on companies' meeting sustainable criteria, but it allows for active 'engagement ' with European smaller companies to improve awareness and compliance with corporate and social responsibility. • Why should European smaller companies be added to the SRI universe? • How can these companies be added to the SRI universe? • Do European smaller companies add value from a sustainability perspective? • Do they add value from an investment perspective? Speaker: Wouter de Ridder, Director, ORANGE SENSE FUND 17:30 SPECIAL REPORT: PRINCIPLES FOR RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT Speaker: Colin Melvin, Chair, UN PRI INITIATIVE 18:00 COCKTAIL RECEPTION 19:00 DAY ONE CONCLUDES LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, December 26 2006
08:15 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST 08:45 CHAIRPERSON'S RECAP REMARKS Dr. Raj Thamotheram, Senior Advisor, UNIVERSITIES SUPERANNUATION SCHEME UK 09:00 IMPEDIMENTS TO LONG-TERM RESPONSIBLE INVESTING: HAS SOMETHING GONE WRONG WITH SRI AND IF SO, CAN IT BE FIXED? At a time when some are celebrating a new era of confidence and empowerment in CSR, many in the SRI community are concerned about whether their markets will continue to expand and what their added value really is. The movement has recently faced negative commentary for over-selling and avoiding the real problems. Has something gone wrong with SRI or is it too much introspection? • Is integration the holy grail or the poisoned chalice – what is so "responsible" about SRI as just a tool for short-term alpha? • What engagement signals do SRI funds really send and can their intents be better translated into practice? • The leadership dimension – how much do CIOs really get this agenda and where on the list of priorities does it come? • Staffing concerns: to specialize or not to specialize? • The sell side dimension – adapting the principles of supply chain management, what should a buy side house that claims to be SRI or corporate governance friendly be doing with its sell side suppliers of research?? Moderator: Tord Carnlof, Director, WASSUM INVESTMENT CONSULTING AB Panelists: Eric Borremans, Head of Sustainability Research, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Robin Edme, President, EUROSIF John Howchin, VP International Operations, GES INVESTMENT SERVICES Peter D. Kinder, President, KLD RESEARCH & ANALYTICS, INC. 10:00 THE US IS DIFFERENT: HOW TO BE RESPONSIBLE INVESTORS WHEN MANAGEMENT HOLDS THE CARDS In a market where litigation, public pressure and shareholder resolutions are substitutes for meaningful shareholder voting rights on directors and remuneration, this session will look at: • Use of the courts to secure shareholder rights and governance changes - with an update on landmark cases including News Corp. • Hot shareholder resolution topics for 2006 go to basic governance structure - majority vote standard, remuneration, annual director elections - but why winning will be worthless without shareholder rights • SEC remuneration disclosure proposal - how it helps but why it won't solve the problem and what may be needed • Engaging on extra-financials factors in a short-term investment environment - can the walls between investment analysis and reality be broken down? Moderator: Dr. Raj Thamotheram, Senior Advisor, UNIVERSITIES SUPERANNUATION SCHEME UK Panelists: Gregory P. Taxin, Chief Executive Officer, GLASS LEWIS & CO. Keith Johnson, Chair, REINHART INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR SERVICES, Program Director, WISCONSIN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE Darren Check, Partner & Director of Institutional Relations, SCHIFFRIN & BARROWAY LLP 10:45 Refreshments 11:00 EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION Issues surrounding executive pay have come to the fore in recent years, with investors often being kept in the dark regarding the benefits executives receive as well as the relationship between pay and performance. The quality of disclosure practices is currently far from adequate. • Have institutional investors been effective in engaging with Boards on the issue of compensation? And if not, why? • How much disclosure is enough for investors? Will more disclosure help? • What about the link to material value drivers – the extra-financial dimension? • What will be the drivers for change going ahead - new regulations, growing public debate or greater fiduciary responsibility by investors? Moderator: Roy Jones, Institutional Relations, SCHIFFRIN & BARROWAY LLP Panelists: Pernilla Klein, Head of Corporate Governance, AP-FONDEN 3 Keith Johnson, Chair, REINHART INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR SERVICES, Program Director, WISCONSIN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE 11:45 ENVIRONMENT AGENCY STATUS REPORT: INVESTMENT STRATEGY AND RESULTS ONE YEAR ON In 2005 the EA implemented a new investment strategy incorporating an environmental overlay strategy across all asset classes in its £1.1bn fund. This presentation updates progress of the success of this strategy. • The first year results and lessons learned • The market response to a new £50m emerging markets mandate with corporate governance and environmental requirements Speaker: Howard Pearce, Head of Environmental Finance and Pension Fund Management, ENVIRONMENT AGENCY 12:15 PUTTING AN SRI MANDATE INTO PLACE In 2005 FRR has launched a 600€M call for tender to select SRI managers able to incorporate a set of ESG criteria into portfolio management. The presentation will focus on the following: • Mandates requirements in light of FRR global strategy • Lessons drawn from the RFP about the SRI industry in Europe Speaker: Nada Villermain-Lécolier, Head of Manager Selection and SRI Policy, FONDS DE RESERVE POUR LES RETRAITES 12:45 Luncheon 13:45 THE ROLE OF FOUNDATIONS AND ACADEMIC RESEARCH This session focuses on Mistra, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research. Mistra's mission is to fund academic research contributing to better understanding and practical solutions for key environmental issues. This has prompted the Board of Mistra to adopt a Sustainable Investment policy for its entire asset management (approx. 400MEuro). In line with its mission, Mistra has also recently launched a large academic research program on sustainable investments. The session will address – among others - the following questions: • What have been the challenges of putting the Sustainable Investment policy into place? What has worked, what hasn't? • What are recommendations also for other foundations/institutional investors interested in this type of investments based on the Mistra experience? • How can academic research support the daily work of investors and asset managers? How can it help us challenge our pre-conceived views and focus on systemic issues? Moderator: Ivo Knoepfel, Managing Director, ONVALUES INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RESEARCH LTD. Panelists: Märtha Josefsson, Chair, MISTRA ASSET MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Måns Lönnroth, Managing Director, MISTRA Lars Gavelin, Senior Adviser, SWEDISH MINISTRY OF FINANCE, Chair, MISTRA SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT ACADEMIC RESEARCH INITIATIVE 14:30 UNIVERSAL OWNERSHIP Pension and mutual funds are increasingly becoming "universal owners" - that is, these fiduciary institutions own securities from a considerable cross section of the economy. The diversified nature of these portfolio holdings tend to align the economic performance of these institutions with the performance of the economy as a whole. While generally stabilizing the investment process, universal ownership also has the potential to be somewhat problematic. • What options are available for investors? • Pros and cons of negative externalities • Quantifying universal ownership: metric challenges Session Facilitator: Dr. Raj Thamotheram, Senior Advisor, UNIVERSITIES SUPERANNUATION SCHEME UK Participants: James P. Hawley, Ph.D., Professor and Co-Director, THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF FIDUCIARY CAPITALISM Nada Villermain-Lécolier, Head of Manager Selection and SRI Policy, FONDS DE RESERVE POUR LES RETRAITES Henrik P. Syse, Head of Corporate Governance, NORGES BANK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (NBIM) 15:15 Refreshments 15:30 STEWARDSHIP AND THE ROLE OF LONG-TERM INSTITUTIONAL SHAREHOLDERS • What is a long-term investor: does a fund that has long-term liabilities automatically qualify? • The power of short-termists • CSR - the corporate side of stewardship – and its link with "traditional" corporate governance • How to promote greater collaboration between investors and avoid unnecssary or ineffective duplication of effort • Structures and policies to facilitate a culture of effective ownership: what should regulators do? Speaker: Peter Butler, Founder Partner & CEO, GOVERNANCE FOR OWNERS 16:00 TOWN HALL MEETING ON SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT: TOWARDS A NEW ROLE FOR INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS As this summit has highlighted, investment decisions are more and more being driven by not only economic performance but also by the issue of sustainability. As issues such as climate change and social marginalisation become more salient, these trends could rapidly accelerate. This closing session will bring leading experts to discuss dilemmas and opportunities open to institutional investors in broadening sustainable investment and attaining a brighter future. • Making present goals consistent with future needs and a broader definition of inter-generational equity • Moving away from short-termism: necessarily difficult, but necessary • The chain of negative self-reinforcing mechanisms: how to turn it into an upward spiral • Does our understanding of "fiduciary duty" need to evolve? • Risk/return levels: have we got the right metrics? Moderator: Ivo Knoepfel, Managing Director, ONVALUES INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RESEARCH LTD. Panelists: Pernilla Klein, Head of Corporate Governance, AP-FONDEN 3 Märtha Josefsson, Chair, MISTRA ASSET MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Henrik P. Syse, Head of Corporate Governance, NORGES BANK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (NBIM) Philippe Spicher, Chief Executive Officer, SIRI COMPANY Nicklas Fahlström, WASSUM INVESTMENT CONSULTING AB 17:00 IMN'S EUROPEAN SUMMIT ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT CONCLUDES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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