Matthews Asia | Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility

Our commitment to active, long-term investment extends to the communities around the globe in which we live and work. Through our corporate responsibility and philanthropic efforts, we contribute to our local communities in a variety of ways.

How We Give Back

Local Involvement

We weave sustainability and giving back to the communities we live in into employees’ daily lives.

Philanthropy

We support charitable organizations with grants and a generous matching program on employees’ contributions.

ESG Investing

As long-term investors and UNPRI signatories, we integrate material ESG factors into our bottom-up investment process.

Corporate Culture

We expect our employees to act with integrity and to always put the interests of our investors first.

Local Involvement

We believe that an appreciation of sustainable and socially responsible business, health and environmental practices begins in the office, within our own Matthews Asia community. Two of our formal committees illustrate that principle:

Matthews Asia Sustainability Working Group

Matthews Asia created the Sustainability Working Group to promote sustainable and responsible practices at the firm, as well as to foster employee wellness. The group obtained Gold LEED certification for the office headquarters and created a carbon offset program for business travel.

Matthews Asia Corporate Volunteer Working Group

Matthews Asia’s “Impact Month” encourages employees to give back the Bay Area. We make a difference through local organizations such as the Edith Witt Senior Community, Asian Community Garden, Bush Recreation Center, Treasure Island Job Corp, and Richmond District Neighborhood Center.

Philanthropic work

Matthews Asia Charitable Giving program

In 2016, we established the Matthews Asia Charitable Giving Program to further expand our philanthropic work. To give back to the communities in which we operate to help achieve their greatest future potential and to support our employees, the Program includes two major components:

Grants from Matthews Asia to select partner organizations that conduct their programs across different parts of Asia
Matching of individual employees’ charitable contributions

The UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

In February 2016, Matthews Asia became a signatory to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), principles that when implemented, contribute to developing a more sustainable global financial system. By doing so, we commit ourselves to consider the investment implications of ESG issues within our portfolio management and decision-making processes, when appropriate and consistent with our fiduciary duties. We believe consideration of ESG issues is particularly relevant to Asia, where we find many of the world’s sustainability challenges—and potential solutions.

Since our founding in 1991, a cornerstone of our investment process has been a focus on identifying companies that adhere to good corporate governance practices with respect to minority shareholders. The broader consideration of environmental and social issues into the investment approach is a natural evolution of that investment process.

To learn more about the UNPRI, visit unpri.org.

Read more about our Responsible Investment Approach.

A Focus on Culture and Diversity

Matthews Culture Working Group

The Matthews Asia Culture Working Group was founded by our CEO, Bill Hackett, with an aim to ensure all employees understand and uphold the shared values of our culture—to maintain a culture of collaboration, flexibility and respect—and define who we are. We view all our employees as ambassadors of the firm and expect them to act with integrity, initiative and to always put the interests of our investors first.

Diversity and Inclusion Working Group

At Matthews Asia, we foster an environment where we can all bring our full authentic selves to work. We believe that a diverse and inclusive work environment is key to upholding our core values of Integrity, Client Focus, Initiative and Teamwork. Our Diversity and Inclusion Working Group provides regular training and development across the firm to deepen our commitment to a diverse and inclusive work environment for our employees.