BOSTON & LONDON & HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--State Street Global Advisors, the asset management business of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), today announced that since the arrival of its Fearless Girl on Wall Street one year ago, 152 publicly-traded companies that the firm reached out to, through either its voice or its vote, that previously had no women on their boards, now have at least one female board member.
“Our stewardship platform, exemplified by Fearless Girl, is making a significant impact,” said Rakhi Kumar, head of ESG Investments and Asset Stewardship for State Street Global Advisors. “Fearless Girl has sparked important conversations around the world, and has increased shareholder action on the issue of gender diversity. We applaud the many asset owners and managers controlling more than $13 trillion that have since joined us in our call to action. We are proud of the fact that 152 companies have placed women on their boards in just the last year. However, there is still important work to be done. The 152 leaves more than 600 companies in our original target universe that have still taken no action, and we will continue our engagement and voting efforts in 2018 as we look to make additional progress on this important issue.”
In the year since Fearless Girl was installed, State Street Global Advisors identified and reached out to 787 companies in the US, UK and Australia that had no women on their boards through direct engagement, its letter writing campaign or using its vote to address their lack of board diversity. Ultimately, State Street Global Advisors voted against 511 companies for failing to demonstrate progress on board diversity. In addition to the 152 companies that added a female board member, another 34 companies committed to adding at least one woman to their board in the near term. The firm also announced it would be expanding its board guidance to companies in Japan, Canada and Europe.
To build on Fearless Girl’s impact, State Street Global Advisors is now calling on portfolio companies to create more transparency and share more data about the number of women they have at all levels of management. State Street Global Advisors will begin screening and engaging with companies in the STOXX 600 and FTSE 350 indexes to start, seeking to understand company practices that promote diversity, and has plans to expand this effort in the future.
“Often when we engage with companies on the issue of board diversity we hear that the biggest challenge is a lack of suitable female candidates,” continued Kumar. “Our efforts can’t stop at the board level if we truly want companies to adopt policies and practices that will help strengthen gender diversity throughout their organizations, and ultimately contribute to a greater pool of female directors qualified to serve on a board.”
For more information on State Street Global Advisors’ asset stewardship efforts and its Fearless Girl campaign, click here.
About State Street Global Advisors
For nearly four decades, State Street Global Advisors has been committed to helping financial professionals and those who rely on them achieve their investment objectives. We partner with institutions and financial professionals to help them reach their goals through a rigorous, research-driven process spanning both active and index disciplines. We take pride in working closely with our clients to develop precise investment strategies, including our pioneering family of SPDR ETFs. With trillions* in assets under management, our scale and global footprint provide unrivaled access to markets and asset classes, and allow us to deliver expert insights and investment solutions.
State Street Global Advisors is the investment management arm of State Street Corporation.
*Assets under management were $2.78 trillion as of December 31, 2017. AUM reflects approx. $35 billion (as of December 31, 2017) with respect to which State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC (SSGA FD) serves as marketing agent; SSGA FD and State Street Global Advisors are affiliated.
It is not possible to invest in an index.
The information contained in this communication is not a research recommendation or ‘investment research’ and is classified as a ‘Marketing Communication’ in accordance with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (2014/65/EU) or applicable Swiss regulation. This means that this marketing communication (a) has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research (b) is not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of the dissemination of investment research.
The FTSE 350 Index is a market capitalization weighted stock market index incorporating the largest 350 companies by capitalization which have their primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. It is a combination of the FTSE 100 Index of the largest 100 companies and the FTSE 250 Index of the next largest 250. The index is maintained by FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group. See the articles about those indices for lists of the constituents of the FTSE 350.
The STOXX Europe 600, also called STOXX 600, SXXP, is a stock index of European stocks designed by STOXX Ltd.. This index has a fixed number of 600 components, among them large companies capitalized among 17 European countries, covering approximately 90% of the free-float market capitalization of the European stock market (not limited to the Eurozone). The countries that make up the index are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
State Street Global Advisors
One Lincoln St. Boston, MA 02210-2900
United Kingdom: State Street Global Advisors Limited. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England. Registered No. 2509928. VAT No. 5776591 81. Registered office: 20 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HJ. Telephone: 020 3395 6000. Facsimile: 020 3395 6350.
Hong Kong: State Street Global Advisors Asia Limited, 68/F, Two International Finance Centre, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong • Telephone: +852 2103-0288 • Facsimile: +852 2103-0200
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