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Before you proceed, please take a moment to review and accept the following Terms and Conditions.
This section includes investor type descriptions for professional clients and market counterparties.
Professional client
A Professional Client is either: (i) a ‘deemed’ professional client; (ii) serviced-based professional client; or (iii) an assessed professional Client
(i) Deemed Professional Client
A person is a “deemed” professional client if the person is:
- a supranational organisation whose members are either countries, central banks or national monetary authorities
• a government, government agency, central bank or other national monetary authority of any country or jurisdiction
• a public authority or state investment body
• an Authorised Market Institution, Regulated Exchange or regulated clearing house
• a Regulated Financial Institution or the management company of a regulated pension fund;
• a Collective Investment Fund or a regulated pension fund;
• a corporate body whose shares are listed or admitted to trading on any exchange of an IOCSO member country
• trustee of a trust which has, or had during the previous 12 months, assets of at least $10 million;
• a Single Family Office licensed under the Single Family Office Regulations
• a person classified as a ‘large undertaking’ who meetstwoof the following criteria (i) a balance sheet total of at least $20 million; (ii) a net annual turnover of at least $40 million or (iii) own funds or called up capital of at least $2 million
(ii) Service-based Professional Clients
A person is a ‘serviced-based’ professional client if
- the services provided to the client is in relation to the provision of credit including arranging and/or advising on credit
• the services provided to the client relates to corporate structuring and financing such as advice relating to an acquisition, disposal, structuring, restructuring, financing or refinancing of a corporation or other legal entity i.e. takeovers, mergers and capital raising
(iii) Assessed-based Professional Clients
Assessed-based professional clients can be either (i) individuals; or (ii) undertakings
Individuals
An individual (and associated joint account holders) would be classified as an ‘assessed-based professional client’ if:
- the individual (and primary account holder, if relevant) has net assets of at least $1 million; and
• the individual is, or has been, an employee of an authorised firm or a regulated financial institution in the past two years; or
• the individual can provide evidence which demonstrates that they have sufficient knowledge and experience of relevant markets, products and associated risks
Where there is a joint account in place, the secondary account holder must obtain confirmation in writing that investment decisions relating to the joint account are made for or on behalf of the secondary account holder
Undertakings
Undertakings, which are generally not individuals, would be classified as ‘assessed-based’ professional clients if it:
- has own funds or called up capital of at least $1 million; and
• can evidence that they have sufficient knowledge and experience of relevant markets, products and associated risks
Market counterparties
A Market Counterparty is any person who is either:
- authorised firm;
• regulated financial institution; or
• professional client
Investment stewardship
Supporting long-term financial value for our clients
As fiduciaries, we help our clients advance their long-term economic interests. Engaging with companies on material business risks and opportunities that may impact their ability to deliver shareholder returns is one of the ways we do that.
What is investment stewardship?
A link between our clients and the companies they are invested in. Stewardship includes engaging with boards and management teams, as well as voting as a shareholder on our clients’ behalf – when authorised to do so.
Encouraging sound corporate goverance and resilient business models
Engagement is core to our stewardship efforts. Our engagement priorities reflect the five themes on which we most frequently engage companies, where they are relevant and a source of material business risk or opportunity.
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Our investment stewardship efforts have always started with the board and executive leadership. The performance of the board is critical to the long-term financial success of a company and the protection of shareholders’ economic interests.
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We engage on long-term corporate strategy, purpose, and financial resilience to understand how boards and management are aligning their business decision-making with the company’s purpose and adjusting strategy and/or capital allocation plans as necessary as business dynamics change.
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Executive compensation is an important tool to drive long-term financial value creation by incentivising and rewarding the successful delivery of strategic goals and financial outperformance against peers. In our view, it is important for companies to make clear in their disclosures the connection between compensation policies and outcomes and the financial interests of long-term shareholders.
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BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages with companies to better understand their approach to, and oversight of, material climate-related risks and opportunities as well as how they manage material natural capital impacts and dependencies, in the context of their business model and sector.
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In our experience, companies that invest in the relationships that are critical to their ability to meet their strategic objectives are more likely to deliver durable, long-term financial performance. By contrast, poor relationships may create adverse impacts that could expose companies to legal, regulatory, operational, and reputational risks.
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