Operational evidences on the engagement duty of Italian institutional investors

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Abstract

Directive 2017/828 is the main legislative text of reference of the European Union (“EU”) in relation to the engagement duty of institutional investors (insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers) towards investee companies. This paper is intended to provide an overview of the engagement activities of Italian institutional investors and to outline possible developments with respect to local engagement practices. In general, evidence has shown a lack of activism by pension funds and domestic insurance companies, as well as the adoption of a selective/opportunistic approach by asset managers, mainly through collective engagement. Further, the Italian stock exchange showed a certain degree of proactivity in promoting the dialogue between issuer companies and investors. In this scenario, it may be worthy to investigate the opportunity for pension funds and insurance companies to exercise engagement activities in collective form as well.

Keywords: Institutional Investors, Engagement, Active Ownership, Shareholders, Fiduciary Duty, Voting Rights

Authors’ individual contributions: The author is responsible for all the contributions to the paper according to CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) standards.

JEL Classification: K22, G18, G38

Received: 08.08.2019
Accepted: 25.10.2019
Published online: 06.11.2019

How to cite this paper: Drigo, F. (2019). Operational evidences on the engagement duty of Italian institutional investors. Corporate & Business Strategy Review, 1(1), 8-16. https://doi.org/10.22495/cbsrv1i1art1