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Sustainability is at the heart of Aktia's operations and guides Aktia towards the goal of being the leading wealth manager bank. By offering the best and most comprehensive solutions for customers within investment, financing, and personal insurance Aktia contributes to building sustainable wealth in society. Aktia recognises new opportunities in the changing world of digitalisation and ESG megatrends and offers interesting solutions to its customers. Our promise is to help customers think further and enable sustainable prosperity.
Aktia is a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). As such, Aktia is committed to considering matters concerning the environment, society and corporate governance in its asset management activities. Our investment decisions are also guided by Aktia’s own principles of responsible investment. When we speak of responsible investment, we are referring to every action that takes into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. The value base of Aktia’s responsible investment activities is drawn upon several crucial agreements and norms, such as the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Sustainable Development Goals. Aktia’s responsible investment activities are based on the idea that a company operating responsibly in line with sustainable norms will be more competitive over the long term than a company that does not observe these norms.
Aktia has actively developed its responsible investment activities. There is an ESG committee in Aktia, which has representatives for each asset class. The committee is tasked with developing responsible investment activities at Aktia Asset Management, monitoring trends and regulatory projects that could affect our operations, planning customer events, assessing different service providers, and handling violations of norms.
Read more about our principles of responsible investment
Read more about our statement on sustainability risks and factors
Read more about our statement on principal adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability factors
The principles of responsible investment are key elements of the process by which Aktia selects emerging markets for inclusion in its fixed-income asset management services. Our investment decisions always include an assessment of the prerequisites for long-term positive development in each country based on an extensive analysis of economic, political and social factors. The countries in our investment universe can be compared with regard to their fulfilment of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The countries are categorised into various investment ratings based on their development trends. Country evaluations are conducted constantly. Responsible investment is also carried out in co-operation with development banks from the perspective of impact. When project funding is channelled and monitored by development banks, it is judged to have a positive impact on the country’s development. Funding may be allocated to areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, the energy sector or the banking sector to support small-scale entrepreneurship. Funding is intended as a means of tackling real problems while addressing ethical considerations.
Since 2017, Aktia has been in responsible ownership-related cooperation with ISS ESG, a pioneer in norm-based shareholder influence. This collaboration is centred around norm-based screening. ISS ESG monitors the holdings of our funds according to criteria based on the UN Global Compact, and it identifies companies that have acted in breach of the Global Compact. The vast majority of the companies we invest in operate in accordance with the Global Compact, and ISS ESG has not identified any cause to issue warnings. ISS ESG carries out engagement dialogues with companies that have not been successful in complying with the UN Global Compact norms on behalf of Aktia. Since 2019, Aktia’s funds have been using a proxy voting service provided by ISS. This enables us to participate in annual general meetings around the world and vote on behalf of our funds. We always vote in the long-term interests of unitholders and in line with Aktia’s principles of governance. Aktia has also added a section to its governance principles stating that the Group’s climate policy should be taken into consideration in its investment activities.
Responsible lending underpins our efforts to create long-term customer relationships. The basis for all lending is a thorough and up-to-date risk assessment of the customer’s solvency and credit rating. The assessment also considers interest rate risks and the customer’s long-term financial position. Aktia actively monitors all changes in credit ratings. Our lending is based on an effort to prevent customers' over-indebtedness. Mortgage repayment plans are prepared in a way that allows for rearrangements. We also offer reverse mortgages. Mortgages and consumer credit can be supplemented with insurance, which covers the customer’s repayment capacity in the event of unemployment or illness. Customers are also encouraged to save while they are repaying their loans and prepare themselves for unexpected expenses and life changes. As a responsible actor, Aktia complies with the legislation and regulatory requirements related to its lending business, such as the supplementary requirements related to housing credit regulations in relation to customer data and stronger consumer protection. In addition, Aktia updated its credit policy to the effect that lending complies with Aktia’s corporate responsibility programme and the Group’s climate policy and that an ESG risk assessment related to the environment, society and good governance will be developed.
Aktia is an official Signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking – a single framework for a sustainable banking industry developed through a partnership between over 300 banks worldwide and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).
The Principles for Responsible Banking is the leading framework for ensuring that banks’ strategies and practices are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Under the Principles, signatory banks measure the environmental and social impact resulting from their business activities, set and implement targets where they have the most significant impact, and regularly report publicly on their progress.
Signatories to the Principles take on a leadership role, demonstrating how banking products, services and relationships can support and accelerate the changes necessary. Aktia leads by example, aiming for carbon neutrality in its investment portfolios by 2050, the operating environment permitting. In lending, its goal is to decrease carbon emissions and exposure. For Aktia Group’s own activities, one of the key goals is to achieve net carbon neutrality in the energy consumption of all rented premises by 2030.