Mirova Leads Coalition of 66 Investors to Take Action toward Gender Equality
BOSTON, October 14, 2019 – After integrating the issue of gender equality into its line of investment solutions, Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, leads an investor coalition to support the Women’s Empowerment Principles and achieve Gender Equality. This statement, co-signed by 66 investors, representing more than 4 trillion euros in asset under management has received the support of UN Women and the UN Global Compact.
Although there has been increasing awareness that the achievement of gender equality is a prerequisite for sustainable development, the adoption of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development of which one of the stated goals is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” (SDG 5), reflects the need for further progress.
Convinced that it is possible to combine financial performance and achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Mirova furthers its commitment to gender equality by gathering 66 investors in a statement to support the women’s empowerment in the workplace and achieve gender equality. In addition to calling for increased transparency on this topic, the purpose of this statement is to encourage companies to sign the Women’s Empowerment Principles. This set of 7 principles, established by the UN Global Compact and UN Women, aims at helping companies create and implement effective equality initiatives that benefit workers, management, society and shareholders. This statement will now be disseminated to a large set of global companies in order to reaffirm the importance of gender equality and to notify them that investors are paying growing attention to this issue.
“Increasingly, the underrepresentation of women in top-level management positions in the private sector is seen as an urgent challenge, not only from a fairness and equality perspective, but also because it may impede performance,” explains Philippe Zaouati, Mirova’s CEO. “We believe that a company that promotes and takes decisive and concrete actions towards gender equality is a company that will create value not only for its investors, but for all of the stakeholders.”
With this joint statement Mirova and the undersigned investors reaffirm their increasing attention to gender equality and women’s empowerment in their investment decisions. Consequently, they strongly encourage business leaders to take corporate action to promote gender equality in their companies by signing the Women’s Empowerment Principle, and they call on companies foster the implementation of gender equality performance measurement tools and improve transparency on their actions and outcomes.
“The WEPs strategic framework is a smart way to incentivize the investment community to take action on gender equality. It’s a triple win proposition, with better investments for investors; impact-driven change by investees; and decent work, opportunities and decision-making that empower women and girls,” declares Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Executive Director of UN Women.
About Natixis Investment Managers
Natixis Investment Managers serves financial professionals with more insightful ways to construct portfolios. Powered by the expertise of more than 20 specialized investment managers globally, we apply Active Thinking® to deliver proactive solutions that help clients pursue better outcomes in all markets. Natixis Investment Managers ranks among the world’s largest asset management firms1 with more than $1 trillion assets under management2 (€898.2 billion).
Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is a subsidiary of Natixis. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, Natixis is a subsidiary of BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France. Natixis Investment Managers’ affiliated investment management firms include AEW; Alliance Entreprendre; AlphaSimplex Group; Darius Capital Partners; DNCA Investments;3 Dorval Asset Management; Flexstone Partners; Gateway Investment Advisers; H2O Asset Management; Harris Associates; Investors Mutual Limited; Loomis, Sayles & Company; Mirova; MV Credit; Naxicap Partners; Ossiam; Ostrum Asset Management; Seeyond; Seventure Partners; Thematics Asset Management; Vauban Infrastructure Partners;4 Vaughan Nelson Investment Management; Vega Investment Managers;5 and WCM Investment Management. Investment solutions are also offered through Natixis Advisors and Dynamic Solutions. Not all offerings available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit Natixis Investment Managers’ website at im.natixis.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers.
Natixis Investment Managers’ distribution and service groups include Natixis Distribution, L.P., a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliated firms of Natixis Investment Managers, and Natixis Investment Managers S.A. (Luxembourg) and its affiliated distribution entities in Europe and Asia.
1 Cerulli Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2019 ranked Natixis Investment Managers as the 17th largest asset manager in the world based on assets under management as of December 31, 2018.
2 Net asset value as of June 30, 2019 is $1.022 billion. Assets under management (“AUM”), as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets, assets of minority-owned affiliated entities and other types of non-regulatory AUM managed or serviced by firms affiliated with Natixis Investment Managers.
3 A brand of DNCA Finance.
4 Not yet licensed – currently pending authorization process as a portfolio management company with the French Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”).
5 A wholly-owned subsidiary of Natixis Wealth Management.
Although there has been increasing awareness that the achievement of gender equality is a prerequisite for sustainable development, the adoption of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development of which one of the stated goals is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” (SDG 5), reflects the need for further progress.
Convinced that it is possible to combine financial performance and achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Mirova furthers its commitment to gender equality by gathering 66 investors in a statement to support the women’s empowerment in the workplace and achieve gender equality. In addition to calling for increased transparency on this topic, the purpose of this statement is to encourage companies to sign the Women’s Empowerment Principles. This set of 7 principles, established by the UN Global Compact and UN Women, aims at helping companies create and implement effective equality initiatives that benefit workers, management, society and shareholders. This statement will now be disseminated to a large set of global companies in order to reaffirm the importance of gender equality and to notify them that investors are paying growing attention to this issue.
“Increasingly, the underrepresentation of women in top-level management positions in the private sector is seen as an urgent challenge, not only from a fairness and equality perspective, but also because it may impede performance,” explains Philippe Zaouati, Mirova’s CEO. “We believe that a company that promotes and takes decisive and concrete actions towards gender equality is a company that will create value not only for its investors, but for all of the stakeholders.”
With this joint statement Mirova and the undersigned investors reaffirm their increasing attention to gender equality and women’s empowerment in their investment decisions. Consequently, they strongly encourage business leaders to take corporate action to promote gender equality in their companies by signing the Women’s Empowerment Principle, and they call on companies foster the implementation of gender equality performance measurement tools and improve transparency on their actions and outcomes.
“The WEPs strategic framework is a smart way to incentivize the investment community to take action on gender equality. It’s a triple win proposition, with better investments for investors; impact-driven change by investees; and decent work, opportunities and decision-making that empower women and girls,” declares Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Executive Director of UN Women.
About Natixis Investment Managers
Natixis Investment Managers serves financial professionals with more insightful ways to construct portfolios. Powered by the expertise of more than 20 specialized investment managers globally, we apply Active Thinking® to deliver proactive solutions that help clients pursue better outcomes in all markets. Natixis Investment Managers ranks among the world’s largest asset management firms1 with more than $1 trillion assets under management2 (€898.2 billion).
Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is a subsidiary of Natixis. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, Natixis is a subsidiary of BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France. Natixis Investment Managers’ affiliated investment management firms include AEW; Alliance Entreprendre; AlphaSimplex Group; Darius Capital Partners; DNCA Investments;3 Dorval Asset Management; Flexstone Partners; Gateway Investment Advisers; H2O Asset Management; Harris Associates; Investors Mutual Limited; Loomis, Sayles & Company; Mirova; MV Credit; Naxicap Partners; Ossiam; Ostrum Asset Management; Seeyond; Seventure Partners; Thematics Asset Management; Vauban Infrastructure Partners;4 Vaughan Nelson Investment Management; Vega Investment Managers;5 and WCM Investment Management. Investment solutions are also offered through Natixis Advisors and Dynamic Solutions. Not all offerings available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit Natixis Investment Managers’ website at im.natixis.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers.
Natixis Investment Managers’ distribution and service groups include Natixis Distribution, L.P., a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliated firms of Natixis Investment Managers, and Natixis Investment Managers S.A. (Luxembourg) and its affiliated distribution entities in Europe and Asia.
2 Net asset value as of June 30, 2019 is $1.022 billion. Assets under management (“AUM”), as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets, assets of minority-owned affiliated entities and other types of non-regulatory AUM managed or serviced by firms affiliated with Natixis Investment Managers.
3 A brand of DNCA Finance.
4 Not yet licensed – currently pending authorization process as a portfolio management company with the French Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”).
5 A wholly-owned subsidiary of Natixis Wealth Management.
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