Singapore Stewardship Principles For Responsible Investors (SSP)

Stewardship codes are developed to promote the responsible allocation, management and oversight of capital to create sustainable value for shareowners, beneficiaries and other stakeholders.

Stewardship codes aim to encourage investors to be effective stewards of assets entrusted in their care. The codes foster transparency, improve communication and enhance corporate governance for healthy markets.

Globally, stewardship codes have been introduced in over 20 countries, including Singapore.

The investment market has evolved since the SSP was first introduced in 2016. Investors have been called to prioritise stewardship outcomes and integrate ESG considerations into the investment process.

The Steering Committee considered these global market developments in revising the Principles. The main changes include: 

• Requesting signatories, in line with their fiduciary duties, to integrate ESG criteria into their investment practices 
• Encouraging signatories to adopt an outcomes-oriented approach when applying the SSP 
• Recommending that signatories demonstrate how they apply stewardship in different asset classes 

The SSP Steering Committee undertook research on stewardship codes in other jurisdictions and drew on best practices in drafting the Principles. An industry survey was conducted in March 2021 to garner feedback from the asset management industry on their perspectives of investment stewardship. This was followed by an open consultation to obtain stakeholders’ feedback on the draft of the updated SSP in November 2021. The enhanced SSP was officially launched in March 2022.

The SSP is not a set of prescriptive measures.

Using the Principles as an overarching framework, signatories can choose to apply the Principles or explain what they do to fulfil the aim of the Principles.

Signatories are strongly encouraged to submit evidence of their stewardship efforts annually to the Secretariat in a stewardship report supported by data and case studies.

While there is no independent monitoring of the SSP, signatories are strongly encouraged to use the Principles as a guide to report the outcomes of their stewardship activities and submit evidence of their stewardship efforts annually to the Secretariat.

The SSP is supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Singapore Exchange (SGX). The Principles should be read in conjunction with applicable local legislation and regulations. They are designed to complement stewardship codes that are in place in other jurisdictions and investors may wish to utilise the Principles alongside other local and international frameworks to achieve effective stewardship outcomes.

The Steering Committee was officially established on 2 November 2016. It comprises the following organisations:

Chair:
    • Stewardship Asia Centre

Members:
    • Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
    • Asia Pacific Real Assets Association
    • CFA Society Singapore
    • CPA Australia
    • Investment Management Association of Singapore
    • Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants
    • Securities Investors Association (Singapore)
    • Singapore Institute of Directors
    • Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association