Working with a global payments company to improve sustainability disclosures

  • ISSUE

    One of our teams held a stake in a founder-led US$4.3 billion global payments technology business. While we appreciated the growth potential of the business and the strong management team, the company lacked robust and comprehensive reporting on material issues, including data security, data privacy, intellectual property protection, workforce and board diversity management, and the environmental footprint of its hardware infrastructure.

  • ACTION

    We engaged with the issuer over several years, encouraging the company to draft a comprehensive sustainability report that would detail its efforts and progress toward the environmental, social, and corporate governance issues material to its business and outlook.

  • OUTCOME

    The company published a report in August 2022 providing data on human capital management; data privacy; cybersecurity; diversity, equity, and inclusion; environmental stewardship; and corporate governance, among other matters, that will help investors better assess the company's risk/reward profile.

The ESG-related case studies shown here are for illustrative purposes only, do not represent all of the investments made, sold, or recommended for client accounts, and should not be considered an indication of the ESG integration, performance, or characteristics of any current or future Manulife Investment Management product or investment strategy. 

Manulife Investment Management conducts ESG engagements with issuers but does not engage on all issues, or with all issuers, in our portfolios. We also frequently conduct collaborative engagements in which we do not set the terms of engagement but lend our support in order to achieve a desired outcome. Where we own and operate physical assets, we seek to weave sustainability into our operational strategies and execution. The relevant case studies shown are illustrative of different types of engagements across our in-house investment teams, asset classes and geographies in which we operate. While we conduct outcome-based engagements to enhance long term-financial value for our clients, we recognize that our engagements may not necessarily result in outcomes which are significant or quantifiable.  In addition, we acknowledge that any observed outcomes may be attributable to factors and influences independent of our engagement activities. 

We consider that the integration of sustainability risks in the decision-making process is an important element in determining long-term performance outcomes and is an effective risk mitigation technique. Our approach to sustainability provides a flexible framework that supports implementation across different asset classes and investment teams. While we believe that sustainable investing will lead to better long-term investment outcomes, there is no guarantee that sustainable investing will ensure better returns in the longer term. In particular, by limiting the range of investable assets through the exclusionary framework, positive screening and thematic investment, we may forego the opportunity to invest in an investment which we otherwise believe likely to outperform over time. Please see our ESG policies for details.

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