We aspire to be a pension insurer entrepreneurs can rely on. Our vision is to provide tailored services with an entrepreneurial approach. Our services are provided with a human touch, whether in person or digitally. Our aim is to provide supreme customer experiences and to act as the voice of entrepreneurs in the field of pension insurance. Corporate responsibility is embedded in everything we do.

Veritas is a pension insurance company managing the statutory pension security stipulated under the Self-Employed Persons’ Pensions Act (YEL) and the Employees Pension Act (TyEL). We shoulder our responsibility for pension assets and for the adequacy of funding for the pension system through securing that the pension assets generate sufficient return and by ensuring our solvency.

Our operations are guided by our values:

  • We are boldly and genuinely ourselves
  • We are constantly improving
  • We work together with an entrepreneurial mindset

Strong development of responsibility work continues

Responsibility work is a long-term endeavour that requires cooperative efforts. In 2021, Veritas advanced responsibility in a variety of different ways. The year witnessed an expansion of stakeholder work and corporate responsibility networks. Responsibility was also increasingly reflected in our external and internal communications.

Veritas participated as an investor in numerous collaborative initiatives striving, inter alia, to mitigate climate change and advocate the rights of children. In 2020, the Board of Directors adopted for the company our Principles of Responsible Investment, as well as a Climate Roadmap for Investments and an Ownership Policy that are all updated annually. We also updated our Climate Road Map for Investments and determined interim milestones for reaching our climate goals. It is our objective to achieve carbon neutrality in real estate investments in 2030 and in other investments by the year 2035.

Veritas’ corporate responsibility networks also expanded on other fronts. For the very first time, we participated in Oikotie’s ”Responsible Employer” campaign, launched our collaboration with WWF through the Green Office project and joined the City of Turku climate team. Veritas also participated in writing Finsif’s Responsible Investment Guidebook. We believe that together, we can accomplish more, and so we will continue to foster and advance responsibility-related collaborations.

Responsibility was clearly reflected in our communications in 2021. We trained personnel and arranged monthly 15-minute informational sessions on responsibility. Furthermore, blog writings and news were published in internal communication channels. As concerns our external communications, we endeavoured to communicate our responsibility efforts comprehensively and in a timely manner, through blog writings and social media. Our responsibility work was also externally discernible through webinars, featuring speakers such as Veritas’ Chief Investment Officer or Chief Sustainability Officer.

Year of responsibility 2021

January

  • Veritas’ Green Office working group, VeriGreen, commenced the preparation of the environmental programme, headed by the Chief Sustainability Officer.
  • We transitioned to renewable district heat in our Espoo, Vantaa and Helsinki properties. The majority of Veritas’ properties are now heated with renewable energy.

February

  • We took part in the Responsible Employer campaign
  • Veritas commenced its cooperation with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. The objective of the partnership agreement is the enhancement of work ability, prolongation of working life and, in particular, mitigating the occupational disability risks of entrepreneurs.

March

  • We began our annual PRI reporting work on the implementation of the UN Principles of Responsible Investment in our investment activities.
  • We adopted the digital mail service Kivra, through which entrepreneurs are able to receive, pay and archive their invoices and other documents easily and securely.

April

  • Veritas’ Corporate Responsibility Report was published.
  • We participated in developing a tool created by UNICEF. The tool allows companies to assess the materialisation of children’s rights as part of their ESG analyses better than was previously possible.

May

  • Veritas’ experts participated in writing Finsif’s Responsible Investment Guidebook. The guidebook was published in June.

June

  • Veritas’ experts participated in writing Finsif’s Responsible Investment Guidebook. The guidebook was published in June.

August

  • Veritas’ headquarters was awarded a BREEAM environmental classification, with its level being Excellent. The BREEAM classification is Europe’s leading building environmental classification system that allows for the assessment of the environmental impacts of buildings. A BREEAM environmental classification of the level Excellent is still a rarity in Finland. For further information on responsibility in our properties, please see: Responsibility in Properties.

September

  • We conducted a stakeholder survey among our key stakeholder groups and surveyed what their expectations were in terms of corporate responsibility at Veritas.
  • Together with 586 other investors, Veritas signed the 2021 Global Investor Statement to Governments on the Climate Crisis, aiming to expedite state-level action to combat climate change.

October

  • Veritas joined the City of Turku climate team. The City of Turku climate team is a community aimed at companies operating within the City of Turku region, striving to communitise the combat against climate change.
  • Veritas participated in a campaign organised by the CDP organisation, where large corporations are encouraged to set science-based environmental targets.

November

  • We arranged a responsibility-themed webinar for our customers in collaboration with Kivra.

December

  • Veritas published a climate roadmap for investors, specifying actions and interim milestones for attaining environmental targets.

Organisation of responsibility

Veritas’ Board of Directors and Executive Group handle all of the most significant corporate responsibility policy decisions, as well as projects and resolutions pertaining to the development of responsibility. Within Veritas’ Executive Group, the person responsible for responsibility matters is General Counsel Piia Vuoti, and as concerns responsible investment, Chief Investment Officer Kari Vatanen.

There are two groups that coordinate corporate responsibility within Veritas: the corporate responsibility group as well as the responsible investment steering group. The groups are tasked with coordinating responsibility matters within our company. Members of the working groups consist of a comprehensive representation of Veritas’ functions, from legal to communications and from risk management to HR.

The work of the working groups is supported by the Chief Sustainability Officer. They act as the general coordinator in matters related to corporate responsibility and participate closely in the work of various working groups. Additionally, they communicate timely responsibility matters at the meetings of the Executive Group and those of other teams and departments.

COMPONENTS OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

At Veritas, responsibility is embedded in everything we do.

Customers and Beneficiaries

We shoulder responsibility for our customers and beneficiaries as part of the pension system.

Responsible investment

We invest pension assets profitably, securely and responsibly.

Good Governance

Values and responsible business principles guide our operations.

Responsible Employer

We work to ensure every single Veritas employee prospers in their work.

Stakeholder collaboration

At Veritas, the cornerstone of stakeholder collaboration is active and regular dialogue with our stakeholders. We aim to communicate on corporate responsibility openly and transparently. We strive towards providing our stakeholders with sufficient and up-to-date information on our operations and ensuring they grasp our role and our essential functions.

Our key stakeholders comprise our customers and beneficiaries, personnel, public authorities, labour market organisations, industry organisations, media, non-governmental organisations, as well as investment objects and investment partners. Typical avenues for interaction include, for instance, meetings, gatherings, training sessions, websites and social media, various publications, along with seminars and webinars.

We collaborate closely with the advocacy organizations in our field. For instance, we participate in the working groups of the Finnish Pension Alliance TELA, representing pension insurers, as well as Finance Finland (FA), representing the financial sector in Finland. We also interact with various non-governmental organisations, such as WWF Finland.

Within the sphere of responsible investment, we collaborate with other investors through various investor initiatives and communities. These are discussed in more detail under the Responsible Investment section.

Stakeholder survey

We regularly measure the expectations and satisfaction of our stakeholders through various surveys. These surveys allow us to assess how we have succeeded in our corporate responsibility work, as well as our stakeholders’ key expectations concerning our operations.

In 2021, we conducted a stakeholder survey among our key stakeholders in order to explore the expectations our stakeholders have concerning our corporate responsibility. The survey was conducted in the form of an email survey, but we also engaged in a direct dialogue with the stakeholders in separately held meetings.

Stakeholder expectations revealed particularly an emphasis on high-quality customer service, open and concrete communications, along with reporting, as well as the responsibility of investment activities, especially the mitigation of climate change. Furthermore, our stakeholders expected Veritas to also exhibit responsibility as an employer, as well as good governance. Particularly with non-governmental organisations, we conversed not only on combatting climate change, but also on considering biodiversity.

In our stakeholder survey, the scores awarded for our corporate responsibility work were for the most part good, very good and excellent. Our corporate responsibility work is considered to be up to par, and this is the standard we will be holding ourselves to also going forward.

Responsible procurement

A pension insurance company is entrusted with certain tasks that it cannot outsource. We do, however, engage also third-party suppliers in various connections and in such connections, it is important for us to ensure that our suppliers are dependable and act responsibly. We ourselves are a responsible operator and it is crucial for us to also have partners that act responsibly.

In 2021, we further specified the aspects pertaining to the responsibility of a service supplier that should be considered in the procurement and outsourcing of certain services. The guidelines stipulate that a function cannot be outsourced, if there is justified cause to suspect that the service provider’s activities are associated with the exploitation of labour or other unlawful activities.

During 2021, we carried out development work on Veritas’ supplier management model. At the moment, the model is in use with our key IT suppliers, and also with certain other key suppliers (for instance in relation to HR and financial management)

The supplier management model constitutes a component of Veritas’ risk management. It allows us to verify the suitability and reliability of suppliers, and we also evaluate, inter alia, the continuity of the suppliers’ business and the state of their corporate responsibility.

The supplier management model also comes into play in the selection of new suppliers. Through this procedure, we seek to ensure responsibility also down our supplier chain.