Active Ownership Report 2023

Danske Bank Asset Management

Active Ownership Report

When customers entrust us with their assets and savings, it is our duty to serve their interests by providing investment solutions with the goal to deliver competitive and long-term performance. Our firm commitment to Responsible Investment is an integralpart of this duty. It is about making better- informed investment decisions - addressing issues of risk, problems, and dilemmas, and influencing portfolio companies through active ownership to contribute to a positive outcome. Furthermore, the exercise of Active Ownership activities is in line with our fiduciary duty, which is to consider what is in the best interests of our clients.

Active ownership - through direct dialogue, collaborative engagement and voting at the annual general meetings - is an important part of our ability to create long-term value to the companies we invest in and to our investors. We believe it is more responsible to address material sustainability matters as investors rather than refraining from investing when issues of concern arise, leaving the problem to someone else to solve. Our investment teams are the change agents who can impact companies to manage risks and opportunities.

The aim of our Active Ownership Report covering three parts 'Engagement Activities', 'Collaborative Engagement Initiatives' and 'Voting Activities' is to demonstrate how our Active Ownership Policy / instruction has been implemented throughout the year, fulfilling our annual duty to report on our active ownership activities in accordance with Article 3g of the Shareholder Rights Directive II (as implemented under national laws, including the Danish Financial Business Act § 101a.

The 3 parts of the report

Part 1 -

Engagement Activities

Part 2 -

Voting Activities

Part 3 -

Collaborative

Initiatives

2

Where to get additional information

Responsible Investment Policy click here

Active Ownership Instruction click here

Voting Guidelines click here

Proxy Voting Dashboard click here

Danske Bank Sustainability approach and priorities

click here

Climate Action Plan Progress Report 2023 click here

Principal Adverse Impact Statement clickhere

Investment Restrictions click here

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Our active ownership activities in numbers for 2023

1 500 +

3 600+

engagement activities

total meetings voted

43 200+ 500+

total proposals voted

environmental and social

proposals voted

4

Active Ownership Report, Part 1 Engagement Activities

Engagement introduction

The Investment and Responsible Investment teams engage on a regular

basis with investee companies about material sustainability matters in

order to seek improvement in performance and processes with the aim of enhancing and protecting the value of Danske Bank's investments.

Financial and sustainability information is reviewed from multiple data sources to mitigate investment risks and leverage opportunities, and to assess the potential positive and negative impact of material financial factors and sustainability factors on financial performance and society.

Reasons for dialogue can be, but are not limited to, the following

  • Inform about voting decisions and guidelines
  • Clarify publicly disclosed information from company
  • Conduct research
  • Identify and assess the quality of available data
  • Understand performance and identify potential vulnerabilities
  • Develop insights into risks and opportunities
  • Identify potential regulatory developments and impacts

In order to ensure a structured engagement process, we log and monitor company dialogue and progress.

6

In 2023, we have had the following engagement activities

Companies

834

Countrydomiciles

53

Engagement subjects

115

Engagement

1530

Interactions

7

Split between engagement themes

Environmental

E S G

Governance

33%

45%

Social

22%

8

Top 7 engagement subjects discussed across themes

E S G

E

S

G

Rank

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Subject

Count

GHG Emissions

242

Energy Transformation

159

Net Zero

101

Energy Efficiency

85

Climate Neutrality

75

Energy Management

53

Sustainable Products

51

Rank

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Subject

Count

Employee Engagement,

86

Diversity & Inclusion

Digitalisation

85

Human Rights & Community

48

Relations

Supply Chain Management

47

Employee Retention

44

Labor Standards/Practice

39

Access & Affordability

39

Rank

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Subject

Count

Capital Structure

243

M&A

91

Dividends

73

Board Composition

68

Corporate Disclosure

49

Business Ethics

34

Corporate Governance

28

Multiple topics may have been discussed in a single engagement interaction with an issuer.

9

Top 10 industries most engaged with

Number of interactions with top 10 industries (Sector in bracket)

Banks (Financial) 85

Oil & Gas (Energy) 74

Chemicals (Basic Materials) 68

Food (Consumer, Non-cyclical) 66

Healthcare-Products (Consumer, Non-cyclical)

64

Real Estate (Financial) 62

Electric (Utilities) 60

Transportation (Industrial) 58

Pharmaceuticals (Consumer, Non-cyclical) 49

Commercial Services (Consumer, Non-cyclical)

49

Note: The Bloomberg Industry Classification Systems (BICS) is used for sector classification

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Disclaimer

Danske Bank A/S published this content on 15 May 2024 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 May 2024 12:09:39 UTC.