“The Stewardship Principles for Institutional Investors” aims to elevate corporate governance quality through active investor engagements and has been widely supported by government funds, life insurance and security investment trust companies since its publication on June 30, 2016.
TWSE, the leading drafter and advocate of the Principles, has successfully invited international asset management firms including Robeco, BlackRock, Fidelity and Hermes to endorse the Principles, added up to 20 signatories as of the end of October, 2016.
With more active engagement, the TWSE is convinced that the corporate governance culture and long-term values of Taiwan security market will be further enhanced.    Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. (Robeco) , a subsidiary of Robeco Group, is a global asset manager, headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands since 1929. Robeco Group has EUR 269 billion of assets under management (as of June 30, 2016). Robeco currently has over USD 3.5 billion invested in Taiwan(as of September. 30, 2016). Robeco is also a signatory of Stewardship Codes of the UK, Japan and Hong Kong. In addition, it is one of the first signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2006. Its well-known affiliate, RobecoSAM, conducts annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment among 2,800 companies, which has compiled one of the world’s most comprehensive databases of financially  sustainabile information.
BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management corporation based in New York City which operates in over 30 countries. As of June 30, 2016, it has USD 4.89 trillion of assets under management and is by far the largest asset manager. It provides investment trust services in Taiwan by BlackRock Investment Management (Taiwan) Ltd. To fulfill its stewardship responsibilities, BlackRock established The BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS) Team, designated to engage with companies and provide insight on ESG issues to investment strategies.
Fidelity International was founded in 1969. It’s a private-owned asset management company which runs USD 272 billion around the globe. In Taiwan, the FIL Securities Investment Trust Co., (Taiwan) Limited offers a range of services including funds selling, discretionary investments and asset management. Fidelity states that it does not screen out companies from the investment universe purely on the grounds of poor ESG performance. Instead, it adopts positive engagement approach in order to bring joint benefits for its clients and investee companies.
Hermes Investment Management (Hermes) is a London based asset manager established in 1983. As of June, 2016, it has ￡26.0 billion of assets under management. Hermes Equity Ownership Service Ltd. (Hermes EOS), one of Hermes’s subsidiaries, provides stewardship advisory services including engagement, voting and other research. Hermes EOS currently represents ￡188.9 billion of assets under advice. Hermes is also an advocate of Stewardship culture in many countries. It has been following the development of Stewardship Principles and other corporate government measures in Taiwan and providing valuable advices for many years.