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Good practice

BNP Paribas - Investing in women on the board

France · International · Transnational · Voir le profil de France

BNP Paribas Asset Management has implemented a comprehensive proxy voting system designed to promote gender diversity on the boards of directors within its portfolio companies. This global initiative is part of the company's broader commitment to fostering inclusive governance an

20 %
Minimum board female-representation threshold triggering an automatic vote-against (since 2020)
30 %
Target female representation on portfolio-company boards (ongoing)
BNP Paribas - Investing in women on the board

Détails

Maturité
Established
Promoteur
BNP Paribas — site web
Domaine de pouvoir
Economic Power
Méthodes / outils
Competence development, Monitoring, Benchmarking
Mots-clés
parity, equality, gender, diversity, governance

Contexte

BNP Paribas Asset Management runs a global proxy-voting system to promote gender diversity on the boards of the companies it invests in, expanded since 2020 across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Objectifs

The initiative aims to drive gender diversity in corporate governance by holding investee companies accountable for board composition, as part of BNP Paribas Asset Management's sustainable-investment (ESG) approach.

Activités

The firm mandates voting against all director candidates at companies whose boards lack female representation, using an analytical system that assesses board composition against gender-diversity criteria; boards with less than 20% female representation automatically receive a vote against.

Résultats

The stated policy floor is a minimum 20% female board representation before an automatic vote-against is triggered, with a broader ambition for portfolio-company boards to reach at least 30% female representation.

Conclusions

BNP Paribas Asset Management presents the voting mechanism as a proactive lever for change beyond advocacy, though the source material does not report independent evidence of resulting board-composition changes.

Mise en œuvre
Coût indicatif
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Requires an analytical/data system to assess board composition globally plus ongoing stewardship-team time; no budget figure published in the source material.
Délai jusqu’aux résultats
Long (> 3 years) — Policy has been in place and expanding geographically since 2020, with no defined end date.
Personnel et compétences
ESG/stewardship analysts, Proxy-voting/governance team

Conditions de réussite

  • Reliable data on board composition across portfolio companies
  • Global voting infrastructure covering multiple markets
  • Firm-wide commitment to enforce the voting policy consistently

Modes d’échec courants

  • Limited leverage where BNP Paribas AM holds only a small stake
  • Data gaps on board gender composition in some markets
  • Vote-against alone may not change company behaviour absent broader investor coordination

Où cela s’applique

Type de gouvernance
private asset management firm (investor stewardship)
Échelle
transnational
Niveau de revenu
high-income

Sources de données

D'où proviennent les informations de cette pratique, et quand.

Pièces jointes

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