
Specialist in Asia Pacific, Japan, China, India and South East Asia and Global Emerging Market equities.
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Our philosophy is very simple. We are constantly searching for high quality businesses and when we acquire them, we will work relentlessly with them to create long-term sustainable value through innovation, ESG-led and proactive asset management.
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Stewart Investors manage investment portfolios on behalf of our clients over the long term and have held shares in some companies for over 20 years. They launched their first investment strategy in 1988.
Discover moreAt First Sentier Investors, we're driven by our Responsible Investment principles. Our commitment to RI research and analysis on topics of importance to ourselves and our clients enables us to make more informed decisions that not only benefit our clients, but our environment and our society. To do this, we use a wide variety of tools and resources some of which are listed below.
As long-term investors, we know that the investment decisions we make today impact communities in the future. We review our RI strategy every three years to build on our approach to stewardship, and ensure we are proactively thinking about how to address emerging issues in our investment processes.
At firm level we are currently focused on the following four key issues: climate change, human rights and modern slavery, diversity and nature and biodiversity.
Climate change
Why should it matter to investors?
The negative impacts of climate change - warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns - pose systemic risks to society and the global economy. It impacts the availability of resources, the price and structure of the energy market, the vulnerability of infrastructures and the valuation of companies.
For example, extreme weather patterns, such as mega-droughts, would impact agriculture production levels, cause water shortages by drying up water reservoirs and disrupt hydroelectric supply.
Lower production levels could in turn inflate prices, impacting the profitability of businesses across supply chains and increasing the cost of living for communities.
The urgent need to transition to a low-carbon and more resilient economy require companies to adjust their business models. Those that fail to take action on climate change will face increased transition risk such as regulatory and reputational risk as governments, communities and market players shift towards a low-carbon future.
Human rights and modern slavery
Why should it matter to investors?
Modern slavery1 is one of the most pressing human rights issues that investors can and should take action on. The International Labour Organization has estimated that there are over 40 million victims of modern slavery2. Women and girls account for 71 per cent of modern slavery victims, while one in four victims are children.
Slavery impedes development in general. It reduces productivity and innovation, and encourages bribery and corruption.
Workers coerced into jobs will seek to leave if they can. If they cannot, productivity levels are likely to drop. They also have no reason to innovate knowing that they will not enjoy the fruits of such innovation. Furthermore, companies who use slavery often disincentivise innovation fearing their exploitative practices will become harder if worker’s skill levels increase. Slavers on the other hand, would bribe and corrupt officials to protect the slavery system.
However, investors, regulators and businesses have an obligation to address modern slavery risks as a key aspect of their social responsibility too. Modern slavery and exploitation of labour is a pervasive part of global supply chains. Investors may be connected to several thousand companies through their investment portfolios, and those companies in turn may be connected to many more in supply chains.
Diversity
Why should it matter to investors?
Representation matters in business and diversity should extend beyond just gender. Factors such as race, religion, socioeconomic background, sexuality and disability should all be of equal importance.
Different ways of thinking and different life experiences create more varied teams that can make better decisions. Moreover, greater diversity, achieved in an inclusive and equitable environment, leads to better outcomes for businesses and the community. McKinsey & Company found that diverse companies perform better especially if the organisation’s leadership is diverse.
They have found that organisations in the top quartile with gender-diverse executive teams were 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability than their industry peers, and organisations with ethnic and culturally diverse leadership are 33% more likely to outperform their peers3.
Diversity leads businesses to consider various perspectives and develop better, more robust strategies and approaches. This is likely to lead to an increase in productivity, translating to higher profitability and better financial performance.
Diversity also sparks innovation. Boston Consulting Group found that organisations with policies and practices supporting diversity increased innovation revenue by up to 12.9%4. Embracing different perspectives can help businesses to innovate and generate new ideas and solutions, driving long-term competitiveness.
Nature and biodiversity
Why should it matter to investors?
Biodiversity is the web of life that underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on our health and livelihoods5. More than half of global economic output, about USD$44 trillion of economic value generation, is moderately or highly dependent on nature6. Biodiversity enables nature to be productive, resilient and adaptable. Just as we diversify our investment portfolios to reduce risk, nature needs diversity to be resilient and minimise disruption to the ecosystem that we rely so heavily on7.
Disruptions to the ecosystem such as destruction of habitats, overexploitation of natural resources and pollution will disrupt the balance of nature, impacting food security and goods and supply chains.
It is estimated up to 70,000 plant species are harvested for traditional and modern medicines globally, and about 100 million metric tonnes of aquatic life are taken from the wild each year8. When that supply stops, our livelihoods will be profoundly affected.
In additional to that, biodiversity conservation is critical to addressing climate change. With the current pace of biodiversity loss, our fight against climate change will not succeed. Both issues are mutually dependent as nature and biodiversity cannot be considered in isolation from climate change.
Further resources
The following tools and resources have been developed by or are used by our Responsible Investment team and our broader investment teams.
Responsible investment reports

Read our latest annual Responsible Investment Report

Read our recent Navigating investment in a post-COVID world report
Read our 2021 Stewardship Report
- Modern slavery includes crimes such as forced labour, debt bondage, human trafficking, child labour and forced marriage and disproportionately affects vulnerable communities.
- International Labor Organization, 2016
- https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/delivering-through-diversity
- https://hbr.org/2018/01/how-and-where-diversity-drives-financial-performance
- https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/biodiversity/biodiversity_and_you/
- World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/press/2020/01/half-of-world-s-gdp-moderately-or-highly-dependent-on-nature-says-new-report/
- The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review
- https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/biodiversity/biodiversity_and_you/
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First Sentier Investors became a Certified B Corporation in November 2022 with a score = 107.2, noting that the passing score is 80. Please visit the B Corp Directory here to view our report and for additional information regarding the assessment process.
This website is for institutional investors only.
The website is issued by First Sentier Investors (Singapore) whose company registration number is 196900420D and has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. First Sentier Investors (registration number 53236800B), FSSA Investment Managers (registration number 53314080C), Igneo Infrastructure Partners (registration number 53447928J), and Stewart Investors (registration number 53310114W) are business divisions of First Sentier Investors (Singapore).
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