Your money — our investment

The term “active ownership” (active owner responsibility) is synonymous. Delegation of voting rights to a proxy advisor or fund management company (compulsory in the case of collective investments) is referred to as proxy voting.

Engagement is defined as the activity to obtain a better common understanding of responsible entrepreneurship through a proactive and cooperative dialogue and to encourage these companies to implement measures and achieve goals that have positive effects in the area of ESG. It also makes the corresponding investment processes and decisions easier to understand for them.

When it comes to engagement, it makes sense for many institutional investors such as pension funds, investors and civil foundations to pool their forces and votes in so-called engagement pools. These pools are managed by specialized agencies, which then engage in dialogue with companies on behalf of their members.

Our Stewardship Committee is responsible for the efficient and expert exercise of voting rights. In doing so, it takes into account recommendations from the sustainability agency Inrate.

The Stewardship Committee consists of the following members:

• Alex Tobler, Investment Commission Representative
• Barbara Heller, Investment Commission Representative
• Fabian Thommen, Deputy Managing Director

For each individual general meeting, the Stewardship Committee actively reviews Inrate's voting rights recommendations and determines the final vote. In 2025, at 88 general meetings and a voting rate of 100%, we voted as follows:

• Total agenda items: 1'737
  • 1,503 assumptions
  • 234 rejections = 13% rejection rate

Every year, we publish a detailed financial report with the disclosure of voting behavior for each individual general meeting.

On behalf of RSG, Inrate systematic dialogues with listed Swiss companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics.

RSG membership enables TRANSPARENTA to participate cost-effectively in a professional engagement process and, in addition to having a say, receives transparent insight into the processes and results. The Stewardship Committee brings the Foundation's point of view to each individual annual meeting with Inrate and at the RSG meeting and makes suggestions for the further development of the commitment and voting rights guidelines.

• In 2025, Inrate carried out a total of 100 engagements (previous year: 95) from a universe of 164 companies, 15 of which were full engagements (previous year: 12) with personal meetings on all key topics.
• The core topics defined by RSG are as follows:
  • Environmental: Indirect CO2 emissions Scope 3, sustainable products and services, biodiversity
  • Social: Human rights due diligence, psychosocial risks in the workplace
  • Governance: Board of Directors competencies, ESG criteria in the compensation system, corporate governance assessment (zRating)

The details with specific examples can be found in Inrate's Engagement Report 2025.

Sustainability assessments are carried out using so-called ESG criteria by various recognized rating agencies (MSCI, Inrate etc.).

In the relevant stock market indices, there are significant companies that are active in several business areas. In order to implement the exclusions efficiently and in line with risk, maximum turnover thresholds are used for classification as controversial. The thresholds vary depending on the business sector and exceeding them will result in the exclusion of the title. In general, the following maximum turnover thresholds are applied. For individual collective investments used, there may also be more restrictive thresholds, but never higher.

• alcohol (10%)
• Gambling (10%)
• Tobacco (5% production/15% turnover)
• Controversial weapons such as ABC weapons, mines, cluster bombs, etc. (0%)
• Conventional weapons and components (10%)
• Civilian firearms (5% production/15% turnover)
• Nuclear energy (10%)
• Thermal coal energy (5%)
• Unconventional oil and gas production (5%)

TRANSPARENTA excludes investment instruments that are highly speculative or non-transparent a priori. They contradict our understanding of sustainability. These are hedge funds or direct investments in fossil and agricultural commodities (crude oil, natural gas, coal, grains, soft commodities, the livestock sector).

The term ESG stands for looking at companies in three dimensions:

• Environmental (Environment)
• Social (society)
• Governance (corporate governance)

For example, criteria such as efficient energy consumption, compliance with workers' rights or the independence and competence of the Board of Directors are assessed.

In the context of an index-oriented investment style, ESG integration aims to maximize the ESG rating value for the relevant investment categories — these are usually equities and bonds — given risk requirements (tracking error). This means that financial performance develops as much as with the base index, but that more capital is invested in companies with high ESG scores in the actual portfolio than in the base index (and no capital at all in those with the lowest ratings). This is also referred to as “positive screening.”

When it comes to foreign equities, TRANSPARENTA uses the MSCI Selection Index (formerly ESG Leaders) based on a so-called best-in-class approach. This gives preference to companies that achieve an above-average ESG rating compared to their industry competitors. The best 50% are selected for each sector. In addition, companies that are involved in controversial business practices are excluded (see also “Exclusion Criteria” section). A total of around 1100 stocks are invested worldwide, which achieves broad diversification.