At The Standard, sound governance is the foundation Principles for Responsible Investment supported by the designed to empower each employee to make the right for our shared values and responsible business United Nations. These managers have agreed to certain decision whatever the circumstance. We encourage practices to support a sustainable future for our principles for reporting and assessing ESG factors and employees to use their own ethical barometer and company, customers, employees and communities. incorporating them into the investment processes. direct them to resources and leaders who can assist when ambiguities occur. Responsible Investing Business Conduct Guide Our investment philosophy ensures we meet the The Standard is well known for integrity and high ethical For senior executives and the board of directors, our obligations and promises we make to our customers standards. Integrity is ingrained in our company culture, expectations are even greater. These guidelines are in alignment with statutory investment requirements. and our reputation is the result of the daily decisions outlined in a separate Code of Business Conduct and The primary objectives for our investment portfolio employees make regarding how they do their jobs and Ethics maintained by our corporate secretary. are to meet the asset/liability management needs of interact with colleagues, customers and members of the company and to generate optimal risk-adjusted the public. Ultimately, we’re each responsible for our own conduct returns over time. Maintaining a long-term perspective in alignment with our strong company values. is core to our overall investment philosophy. Risk Good judgment, honesty and sound business ethics management, both in terms of bottom-up credit risk are the basic principles that inform every employee’s Information Security and Customer Privacy and top-down portfolio risk, is paramount for yield conduct, from new employees to the chief executive As a company built on trust, The Standard is dedicated maximization over time. offcer. These principles require us to avoid conficts to protecting the confdential information of our of interest between our work and personal interests, customers, partners and employees. In the normal As a buy-and-hold investor with a long-term comply with all laws and regulations that govern our course of providing and administering services for our perspective, we strive to look beyond quarterly results business, and be honest and fair in all our work activities clients, we obtain, create and maintain a substantial to incorporate secular trends and company-specifc and relationships. amount of personally identifable information. risks that may materialize over an extended period. As such, The Standard incorporates the analysis of Our Business Conduct Guide is our ethical roadmap. All Framework environmental, social and governance factors into our employees are required to complete an annual training Our information security management system wholistic credit underwriting and portfolio management module as a reminder of the legal and ethical standards is International Organization for Standardization practices. By their nature, such factors generally that govern and infuence all our business activities. 27001:2013 certifed. We adhere to policies and represent longer-term risks and opportunities that ft standards compliant with IS0 27001, which well within our investment strategy. Since it’s the nature of business for things to not always specifcally address privacy and security as well as be clearly defned, there’s a limit to specifc scenarios data classifcation, operational management, data The Standard uses outside investment managers for any business conduct guide can cover. That’s why we processing, access control, auditing and corrective and specifc portions of the portfolio when it’s too diffcult provide ongoing and comprehensive training modules preventive measures. The Standard also goes through or costly to build the expertise on our own. We use to ensure we never waver in our commitment to ethical rigorous independent third-party SOC 2 Type 2 audits three managers who are each a signatory of the decision-making. Our Business Conduct Guide is conducted by a reputable certifed public accountant frm and maintains a SOC2 Type 2 Attestation. 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance Report 24