New York Life Investments Stewardship Principles
I.

Introduction

New York Life Investments (“NYLI”) is the global investment management arm of New YorkLife Insurance Company (“New York Life”). We offer clients access to specialized,
independent investment teams through our family of affiliated boutiques. Through ouraffiliated boutiques, NYLI endeavors to use our influence as institutional investors tomaximize overall long-term value for our clients.
Though our boutiques operate autonomously regarding their approach to stewardship, all theboutiques referenced in the NYLI Stewardship Principles (see “Scope”) are signatories to theUnited Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (“UN PRI”). As a result, we expect thoseboutiques to uphold the second principle of the UN PRI and serve as active owners in theirrespective asset classes, while incorporating ESG issues into their ownership policies andpractices, where possible.
We encourage all boutiques to be active owners through direct and collaborative engagements
and by incorporating ESG into proxy voting practices, where applicable.
These principles are intended to state our beliefs and focus areas for stewardship, while taking
NYLI’s multi-boutique structure into account. These principles will be reviewed on a periodic
basis and updated as needed.
II.

ScopeThe following affiliated NYLI boutiques and investment advisors are covered by the NYLI
Stewardship Principles:• Apogem Capital 1• Ausbil• Candriam• IndexIQ Advisors• MacKay Shields• New York Life Investment Management LLC• NYL Investors• Tristan Capital

On April 1, 2022, Madison Capital Funding, GoldPoint Partners, and PA Capital combined to become ApogemCapital.

11

III.

Methods of Stewardship

We view stewardship as encompassing both proxy voting and engagement. We believe thatexercising our rights as shareholders is an important part of our duty to our clients and aligns
with the second principle of the UN PRI.
Proxy voting rights can be exercised by using a variety of different tools. Across our affiliatedboutique family and where applicable, the boutiques have their own proxy voting policies thatoutline their approach to voting and how they integrate ESG factors into those voting
decisions.
Engagement activities can be conducted under various approaches, either with individualcompanies or issuers, or with non-issuer stakeholders, such as policymakers or standard setters.
Engagements can also be collaborative in nature.
NYLI believes that, in some cases, engagement benefits from collective action and therefore,
we encourage our boutiques to pursue collaborative or industry-wide initiatives wherepossible. Many of our boutiques are members and active participants in several industry-wide
ESG initiatives.
IV.

Stewardship Topics

At NYLI, we believe that the following topics are important to consider when voting proxies,
as well as during engagement conversations:
•••
•
•
•

Increased transparency and enhanced ESG disclosure
Good corporate governance
Climate-related risks and reporting
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Labor and human rights
ESG risk and opportunity management

Our affiliated boutiques may have their own set of priorities and objectives in terms ofengagements, but we encourage them to consider the above focus areas. We recognize that eachboutique will approach stewardship on these topics in different ways that are most relevant to theasset class that they manage, as well as to specific mandates or strategies. NYLI will track ourboutiques’ engagement activities and outcomes in relation to the above focus areas. In addition,
we encourage our boutiques to develop their own practices regarding stewardship and document
and track their stewardship activities.
We also expect that prioritization of stewardship topics will consider:••

Materiality of the issuePortfolio weight or company/issuer relevance within the portfolio
2

V.

Cross Boutique ESG Working GroupWe encourage our boutiques to proactively share information on best practices related to ESG
topics by means of cooperation and/or collaboration on engagements to the extent possible
across our affiliated family of boutiques. To this end, we established a Cross Boutique ESG
Working Group comprised of senior ESG leaders from each of our boutiques, to enablecommunication and sharing of industry knowledge across the NYLI family.
VI.

Conclusion

By adhering to these principles, the NYLI family of boutiques seeks to uphold the second
Principle for Responsible Investment.
June 2023

3