Danish Financial Supervisory Authority identifies shortcomings in pension and asset managers’ active ownership disclosures and publishes good practice expectations

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) published the results of a review of how pension companies and asset managers disclose their approach to active ownership, concluding that disclosures are often insufficient for investors and customers to understand how firms exercise stewardship in practice. The review covered three pension companies and three asset managers. While all six firms publish an active ownership policy and most also disclose how they voted at individual general meetings, Finanstilsynet found deficiencies including policies that do not always address all elements required by legislation. The authority expects more concrete disclosure of how firms monitor developments in investee companies and clearer explanations of the most significant general meeting votes, and it wants pension companies to better explain how active ownership is reflected in their specific agreements with external asset managers. Finanstilsynet also issued a good practice report setting out key observations and supervisory expectations, with an annex providing examples of good and insufficient practice, alongside individual statements for selected firm reviews.