Responsible investments

We are global institutional investors and asset management is a key aspect of the insurance business. It has a significant impact on the real economy, allowing us to actively influence areas such as environmental protection and respect for human rights and labour rights.

We are signatories of the United Nations Global Compact and the Principles for Responsible Investments (PRI) and for a number years now we have been basing our investment strategies on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria, without sacrificing profitability. In addition, we have continued to uphold the principle of protecting our most sensitive asset – our reputation.

Generali Group formalized its commitment to responsible investment in 2006 and in 2010 its own Group Ethical Guidelines were approved.
In 2015, we further developed our approach in the Group Responsible Investment Guideline document.

In particular, we identify, assess and monitor the investments that are most exposed to social, environmental and corporate governance risks for all our portfolios of the Group’s insurance companies. 

In 2017:

345 billion euro
Direct investment in equities and bonds in accordance with the Responsible Investment Guideline

37.2 billion euro
AuM managed with ESG criteria

The group's objective is to leverage its role as an institutional investor to foster change through investment. The group uses dialogue to encourage companies to act responsibly, asking them to justify their conduct if it does not meet the sustainability standards set by the Group.

The integration of ESG aspects is also governed by the Group Voting Policy. The exercise of voting rights is carried out mainly by Generali Investments, to align voting choices to the investment strategy, the Group values and the issues identified in the materiality matrix. 
The Generali Group is in favour of submitting proposals at shareholders’ meetings it participates in aimed at disseminating best practices on governance, business ethics, social cohesion and environmental protection, and undertakes to express an opinion on similar proposals from other shareholders. The policy also sets out the group’s position on fair treatment of shareholders’ rights, anti-takeover mechanisms, sustainability in the composition of the board (in terms of diversity, independence, etc.), transparency and quality of financial disclosure, as well as the inclusion of ESG variables in remuneration policies for managers. 

The group considers the possibility of making financial investments in companies, projects or investment funds aimed at improving the living conditions of the communities in which it operates or at reducing risks and mitigating the effects of climate change, with a view to generating a positive social and environmental impact while maintaining an adequate financial return.