Shinhan Asset Management creates stewardship committee with independent chair

Shinhan Asset Management has established a new Stewardship Responsibility Committee — the first in the industry to be chaired by an outside director — to strengthen the independence of its voting rights exercise and shareholder engagement activities. The move is a governance overhaul aimed at improving conflict-of-interest management and decision-making transparency amid growing emphasis on the fiduciary duties of institutional investors.

The company announced Sunday that it had created the committee to bolster the independence and transparency of its stewardship activities.

The Stewardship Responsibility Committee will deliberate and decide on key matters affecting the long-term interests of investors and beneficiaries, including voting rights exercise and shareholder engagement. A defining feature of the restructuring is the separation of related functions — previously handled broadly by the ESG committee — into a dedicated body with a degree of independence from the investment and sales divisions.

Domestic and international stewardship codes — the principles governing institutional investors' fiduciary responsibilities — increasingly treat conflict-of-interest management, decision-making independence, and disclosure transparency as critical evaluation criteria, going well beyond simple voting rights exercise. Shinhan Asset Management said the reorganization is intended to raise the fairness and credibility of its stewardship activities.

The company appointed an outside director as committee chair to reinforce independence. Shin Sun-kyung, the inaugural chairperson, is a partner attorney at law firm Ryu specializing in financial and capital markets law.

Alongside the launch of the new committee, Shinhan Asset Management also restructured its ESG committee. Going forward, the ESG committee will operate as a firm-wide body responsible for setting ESG investment strategy and reviewing risk management direction. Key executives — including the chief risk officer, chief investment officer and head of the alternative asset group — will participate in the revamped committee.

Shinhan Asset Management has also been expanding its role in policy fund management, recently completing the selection process for the National Growth Fund's challenge and small-league manager categories in partnership with Korea Development Bank. As the National Growth Fund is a policy fund designed to channel growth capital into advanced strategic industries such as AI, semiconductors and biotech, observers say investment expertise alone is no longer sufficient — stewardship and conflict-of-interest management capabilities are becoming equally important.

"Stewardship activities are a core process for protecting the long-term interests of customers and beneficiaries," said Lee Seok-won, chief executive of Shinhan Asset Management. "We will build a decision-making framework grounded in independence and transparency to enhance the fairness of voting rights exercise and shareholder activities, and strengthen our conflict-of-interest management system."

He added that the company had "restructured the ESG committee into a firm-wide ESG investment strategy body to strengthen responsible investment strategy functions," and pledged to "build a responsible investment framework aligned with global stewardship code standards and continuously advance our stewardship activities."