NOMURA ASSET MANAGEMENT ("we" hereafter) follows the principles outlined below in order to fulfill our fiduciary duty (Note 1) as an asset management company.
At Nomura Asset Management, we believe the essence of our business lies in providing high quality products and investment solutions that meet the performance and service expectations of our clients. As a fiduciary asset manager, we strive to ensure our business contributes broadly to the development of society by abiding by high ethical standards, building a deep, trusting relationship with our clients, and seeking sound business operations. We seek to realize a sustainable, prosperous society in which the rich natural environment is preserved, diverse human capital is utilized, economy development is driven by technological innovation, human rights are respected, and well-being is promoted. It is a society in which ESG issues are addressed and the SDGs are achieved. We recognize that it is important for companies to properly manage the risks related to ESG issues, and to view the resolution of ESG issues as new business opportunities and appropriately reflect them in management strategies.
We believe that these actions are essential factor to drive investment returns. Based on the recognition, we work to resolve ESG issues as a responsible investor to fulfill our fiduciary duties, while promoting business operations that emphasize ESG in order to realize a sustainable, prosperous society through the virtuous cycle of investment.
The mission of NOMURA ASSET MANAGEMENT ("NAM" or "we" hereafter) is to continuously offer our clients high-quality asset management services to meet the needs of our clients, thereby contributing to the development of society and gaining strong trust through the asset management business.
Based on its fiduciary duties (i.e., the duty of an investment manager to give highest priority to customer's interests) as a fiduciary asset manager, NAM is committed to act at all times in the best interest of our clients based on our expertise with care required to carry out the duties. We ensure that conflicts of interest are handled ensuring independency and in such a manner so that client interests will never be damaged.
We have been entrusted with our clients' proxy rights and other rights on securities investment, as well as with securities transactions. We must properly exercise these rights in an effort to maximize the interests of our clients. We cannot achieve the growth of our clients' assets over the medium to long term unless investee companies achieve sustainable growth and create corporate value. To this end, we are committed to performing stewardship-related activities, including purposeful dialogue with investees (engagement) and proxy voting, to assume the important responsibility as a fiduciary asset manager.
We have published the Responsible Investment Report 2022 to help individual investors, portfolio companies, domestic and international institutional investors and asset owners better understand our approach to stewardship activities.
In this report, we introduce our stewardship approach and specific activities such as engagement, proxy voting and ESG integration.
We publish impact reports to aid stakeholders in assessing the impact of our investment strategies in relation to our ESG goals. In these reports, we introduce our approach to impact investing, data tracking progress toward our environmental and social goals, and case studies involving investee companies.