Commercial Union Pension Fund Company, which manages Poland’s largest pension fund, is consistently applying the "standards of corporate governance" that were announced last year.
Commercial Union (CU) Pension Fund Company, which manages Poland’s largest pension fund, is consistently applying the "standards of corporate governance" that were announced last year. This is evidenced by the way in which the voting right exercised at general meetings of companies in which CU Pension Fund is a shareholder. A section devoted to corporate governance has been set up on the CU website, where the report on voting on behalf of CU Pension Fund at companies’ general meetings in 2005 may be accessed.
The announcement of "standards of corporate governance" for CU Pension Fund Company, which came into effect on 1 September 2005, was the culmination of previous conceptual work and operating practice on the capital market. The document comprises eight sections in which the method of exercising the voting right resulting from shares of quoted companies that are in the CU Pension Fund portfolio is described. The sections deal with rights and equal treatment of shareholders; disclosure of information and market transparency; and the corporate bodies of public companies and the method of remuneration of persons holding positions in these bodies.
"Today we are for the first time publishing a full exposition of the voting method at company general meetings for the whole of last year. We are attempting to put into effect and popularise corporate governance standards, both in shareholder decision-making and by playing an active part in the public debate on this subject. The application of these standards is in the best interest of our more than 2.5 million customers," stresses Piotr Szczepiórkowski, general manager of Commercial Union Pension Fund Company.
Implementation of the governance standards imposes serious obligations on the CU Pension Fund Company, bearing in mind the scale of investment in equities (a total of more than 7 billion Polish zlotys or Ł1.2 billion, and more than 5% of votes at general meetings of 17 companies at the end of 2005). "Last year we voted at 64 company general meetings, which required a lot of involvement in the process of analysing proposed resolutions and taking decisions. The resolutions covered a range of matters – accepting financial reports, confirming people in their posts on corporate bodies, elections of members of supervisory boards, new share issues and option programmes for key managers and employees. We apply the governance standards in each situation," explains Michał Szymański, board member and investment director of CU Pension Fund Company.
Since the beginning of pension reform in 1999, CU Pension Fund has been the largest pension fund, in terms of both the number of customers (2,570,551 at the end of February 2006), and the value of assets (over 25 billion Polish zlotys or Ł4.4 billion).
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Information:
Bohdan Bialorucki
Telephone: +48 22 557 43 41
E-mail: bohdan_bialorucki@cu.com.pl
For further information, see www.cu.com.pl
Notes to editors:
Commercial Union Poland Group is part of the international Aviva group – the world’s sixth largest insurance, savings and investments group, and the largest in the United Kingdom by revenues. Aviva Group operates in over 25 countries. It occupies a strong position in the European Union, including United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Poland. Worldwide, Aviva group services over 30 million customers and manages assets valued at over Ł290 billion. For additional information, see the website www.aviva.com.