DZ Bank's response
25 November 2021
Union Investment, asset manager belonging to the DZ BANK Group, has established appropriate processes for monitoring and managing human rights risks in its investment universe. As an asset manager with responsibility for funds under fiduciary management, it is important to ensure that human rights are respected in all investments. Human rights issues are an integral part of the engagement dialogue with companies and the exercise of voting rights at general meetings. Details are set out in the Responsible Investment Policy, the Union Investment Engagement Policy and the Proxy Voting Policy.
Economic activities and/or supplier relationships in crisis regions are also actively addressed repeatedly as part of the engagement dialogues. This also applies in particular to concerns with business connections to Myanmar.
Beyond the application of the respective applicable laws and regulatory requirements, we are guided by leading national and international standards, which are the benchmark for decisions and our actions. In particular, we rely on the International Human Rights Code, the core labour standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the German Corporate Governance Code and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, among others