Commercial Union Pension Fund has been acknowledged as the best pension fund in Central and Eastern Europe by the prestigious industry monthly Investment & Pensions Europe.
Commercial Union Pension Fund has been acknowledged as the best pension fund in Central and Eastern Europe by the prestigious industry monthly Investment & Pensions Europe. The justification for the award particularly emphasised CU’s achievements in the application and promotion of corporate governance standards in the Polish capital market.
The award was conferred during a gala celebration in Paris at which several hundred industry representatives from all over Europe were present, as well as Charlie McCreevy, the European commissioner for the internal market and services. "We are proud of the award and the justification for it, in which we were given recognition for our work going back many years now in developing Poland’s capital market," said Piotr Szczepiórkowski, general manager of CU Pension Fund management company.
The monthly Investment & Pensions Europe has been appearing since 1997 and is the most important periodical in Europe dealing with pension funds. Each year it confers awards for the best funds in individual European countries and in theme categories.
This is an extract from what the international jury wrote in justifying the decision to present the award to CU Pension Fund: "In a young pensions market that is still finding its feet, CU’s pioneering work has been a major force in establishing corporate governance standards. CU takes a proactive role in relation to the companies it invests in, whether proposing motions at shareholders’ meetings or publishing its voting record. It zealously supports those independent board members whose view certain companies find troublesome, and it is not afraid to act as a whistle-blower in cases where it considers a company’s board has acted against the interests of the company and its shareholders. CU also plays an important role in creating new standards, both within Poland’s Pension Fund Chamber and by publishing its own guidelines."
CU Pension Fund announced corporate governance standards in its investment activities on 1 September 2005, thus formalising procedural rules that had already been applied in practice. An extended version of the standards has been in use since 2 November 2006. By the end of 2005, CU Pension had shares in 55 companies in its portfolio, with a holding of over 5% in the company’s capital in the case of 17 of these. Diligent performance of shareholder duties required involvement in 58 general meetings of shareholders in the first six months of 2006 alone (compared to 64 in all of 2005), and voting on 1,058 decisions.
"Rational decision-making in many different, and sometimes difficult and controversial matters requires not only that internal procedures be observed, but also that the optimum strategy for individual companies and industries be thought through. In particularly confrontational situations, playing an active role in corporate governance requires determination by the whole fund-managing company in acting in the interests of the customers. We think, however, that proper exercise of shareholders’ rights is our duty to fund customers and brings measurable long-term benefits through improvements to the efficiency of individual companies and the entire capital market," points out Michał Szymański, management board member and investment director of CU Pension Fund.
Since the beginning of pensions reform in 1999, CU Pension has been the market leader in terms of both the number of its customers and the value of its assets. The fund looks after over 2.6 million customers, and the value of its assets last week passed the 30 billion zloty mark.
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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.pl
Notes to editors:
Commercial Union Poland Group is part of the international Aviva group – the world’s fifth largest insurance group, and the largest in the United Kingdom by revenues. Aviva Group operates in 25 countries. It occupies a strong position in the European Union, including United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Poland. It also has major operations in the USA, Canada, Australia and Asia. Worldwide, Aviva group services about 35 million customers and manages assets valued at over Ł330 billion. For additional information, see the website www.aviva.com