Policies, rules and regulations

Corporate Governance Code

Although the Dutch Corporate Governance Code is not mandatory for Bouwinvest as an unlisted company, the Board of Directors endorses the best practices of the Code as far as applicable to Bouwinvest.

Code of Conduct

Bouwinvest has a Code of Conduct that applies to all its employees and which includes rules that apply to the Board of Directors and Supervisory Board with respect to conflicts of interest and investments. The Code of Conduct deals with issues such as ethical behaviour, conflicts of interest, compliance with laws and (internal and external) regulations, CSR, health and safety and our business partners.

Bouwinvest also has a whistleblower policy dealing with the reporting and investigation of unethical behaviour. All employees receive code of conduct training.

Compliance

Bouwinvest has an independent compliance function that identifies, assesses, advises on, monitors and reports on the company’s compliance risks. These include the risk of legal or regulatory sanctions, financial loss, or loss of reputation that the management company may suffer as a result of any failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations, codes of conduct and standards of good practice. The compliance officer reports to the statutory director on a monthly basis and to the chairman of the Supervisory Board on issues related to the Board of Directors. You will find more details on the compliance function in the Risk Management section of this annual report.

Conflict of Interests policy

Bouwinvest has a Conflicts of Interests policy. The purpose of this policy is to protect the interests of Bouwinvest and the interests of the Fund when Bouwinvest is contemplating entering into a transaction or arrangement that might benefit the private interests of a Bouwinvest employee or might result in a possible excess benefit transaction. The policy also describes how Bouwinvest should act with respect to the allocation of different investment opportunities over the respective funds and clients. The policy is intended to supplement but not replace any applicable Dutch laws governing conflicts of interests.

In 2014, there were no conflicts of interests as referred to in the Bouwinvest Conflicts of Interests Policy, either between the members of the Board of Directors, the management company, or the funds managed by the management company.