Case Studies

Stakeholder insights report

Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation

In 2021, the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, a Crown entity charged with managing the NZ Super Fund, engaged GRC Partners to identify key stakeholder expectations relevant to that organisation’s social license to operate.

Today, investors are increasingly looking beyond the bottom line. More and more, they expect the businesses in which they invest, and the fund managers they engage, to act ethically and in a genuinely sustainable fashion.

As a Crown entity, and with a mandate to adopt best practice portfolio management and avoid prejudice to New Zealand's reputation as a responsible member of the world community, the Guardians has always factored environmental, social and governance considerations into its investment decisions. 

We worked with the Guardians to draw up a list of respondents. We prepared a questionnaire designed to elicit clear opinions on the Guardians’ performance as an investment manager and as a responsible investor, carried out the interviews, and wrote up an analysis of findings.

A sound understanding of how it was viewed by players in politics, business, finance, academia and government provided valuable context for the Guardians’ review of its responsible investment strategy.

Impact

  • Our work was used to inform the implementation of the Guardians’ revised responsible investment strategy and its current and future reporting priorities.