It is our task as a pension insurer to manage the statutory pension security and to invest pension assets seeking the highest return possible, within the framework of an acceptable risk level. This allows us to shoulder our responsibility as part of the Finnish pension system.
The objective of our investment activities is to secure the long-term funding of the pension system. The good governance of our investments secures the long-term return of the investments, and this is why we are seeking to leverage our influence over our investments through ownership policy.
We incorporate corporate responsibility and sustainability considerations in our investment activities extensively, so as to consider environmental (E), social (S) as well as governance (G) aspects. We believe that companies seeking to take account of the possibilities and risks embedded in ESG aspects are better positioned to succeed in adapting their operations to changes in the operating environment.
We aspire to be an active owner and implement a long-term investment policy. The factors we monitor in respect of the entities we own include the company’s strategy, its financial performance, the assessment of the risks associated with the company’s operations, along with the capital structure of each company. Alongside financial key figures or evaluations, we also assess the degree of sustainability of the operations of the entities we own.
The principles of our ownership policy outline how we identify ourselves as an owner, what our expectations are and how we exercise our rights conferred by our holdings. The policy principles pertain to all direct equity investments and mutual fund investments in Finland and abroad.
Veritas’ updated ownership policy was adopted by the company’s Board of Directors on 19 December 2023. The first ownership policy in line with the amended legislation concerned the year 2020.
Amendments compared to the 2023 ownership policy principles
The purpose of the amendments made in 2023 was to show more clearly our expectations as an owner and how we use voting rights at Annual General Meetings to advance our expectations. The new entries in our ownership policy principles are recommendations of principle that can be departed from on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons. With regard to the implementation and supervision of the policy, we focus on companies in which we hold significant voting rights.
Through these amendments, we will present more prominently our principles related to Annual General Meetings and voting rights, and explain further about the expectations we have related to, for example, the composition of the Board of Directors, remunerations of the management, changes in capital structure, dividend policy and the selection of auditors. Additionally, we draw attention to the fact that we respond positively to Annual General Meeting proposals that promote responsibility and sustainability in accordance with the policies of Veritas.
We publish an annual account on our website concerning the implementation of our ownership policy, the most significant votings and our voting behaviour at the Annual General Meetings of such listed companies in which we hold an interest. The report has been published annually since 2019.
Further information about our ownership policy is available at https://veritas.fi/en/about-us/financial-information-and-investments/ownership-policy/. We elaborate further on the responsibility aspects of our investment activities in the Responsible Investment section.
Supplier management model
We ourselves are a responsible company and it is important for us that also our partners act responsibly. In certain functions, we retain third-party suppliers and in such connection, we want to ensure that the suppliers are reliable and responsible. At the moment, third-party suppliers are retained, for instance, for the HR system, working hour management, payroll services, IT support services and, as the latest addition, postal services.
Veritas utilises a supplier management model that steers the selection of new suppliers and verifies the suitability and reliability of suppliers. The model also allows us to evaluate, among other things, the continuity of the suppliers’ business and the state of their corporate responsibility. Thus, the supplier management model also constitutes a component of Veritas’ risk management.