Amec and CFA Society Brazil launch new Brazilian Stewardship Code

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The Association of Capital Markets Investors (Amec) and CFA Society Brazil launched the Brazilian Code of Stewardship last month during the event “Brave New World: Integrating ESG Into Portfolios.” The new document is an update of the Amec Code of Stewardship, created in 2016 and currently holding about 30 signatories.

“It is my pleasure to be here today to launch the Brazilian Stewardship Code,” said Fábio Coelho, Amec’s CEO, in a keynote during the event. He highlighted CFA Society Brazil’s role as the Code’s new “sponsor,” which had the endorsement of the United State’s CFA Institute.

“We understand that the development of the capital market in Brazil requires institutional investors’ engagement with companies, actively working in favor of investors,” said Flávio Papelbaum, CFA Society Brazil’ board member, during the event’s opening.

Flávio Papelbaum.

The first version of Amec’s Code was inspired by a similar document released in 2010 in the UK. Just like the British document, the Brazilian Code establishes principles like full disclosure, conflict mitigation, ESG, engagement policies, voting, collective engagement, transparency, among others. The UK Code of Stewardship was updated in 2020, and a new version was published.

Fábio Coelho explains that the Amec Code of Stewardship was a pioneer in Brazil, anticipating trends that were adopted in international markets. In his view, a lot changed in the past five years and even more in the last 12 months due to the pandemic. That’s the reason why Amec updated the  Brazilian code. The initiative counts with a new seal that is already available to the current signatories.

One of the advantages of joining the Code is being part of a group of investors to share information. “When you practice stewardship, you join a community of investors, which is a very collaborative group and offers a nice exchange of experiences. This collective learning experience makes it easier to navigate the sustainability world,” said Amec’s CEO.