FY24 Sustainability Report

From our origins as a trustee company in 1886, Perpetual Group has supported our clients and communities over generations. Our purpose is to create enduring prosperity for our clients, our people and communities which is also embedded in our approach to sustainability.

Since the launch of our sustainability strategy, Perpetual's Prosperity Plan, in September 2022, we have progressed many of our commitments. We seek to build an inclusive, high-performance culture; strengthen local communities; consider the risks and opportunities relating to climate change on behalf of our clients; and work to uphold good governance, accountability and integrity.

Throughout FY24, we have continued to make good progress across our four key areas of governance, planet, people and communities, with 26 out of the

35 commitments in our sustainability strategy on track or achieved.

During the year, the Perpetual Limited Board (Board) and management conducted a Strategic Review of our business and the outcome of that review, which was announced

in May, was the separation of our Wealth Management and Corporate Trust businesses (see page 7).

Planning for this change, whilst ensuring our businesses continue to deliver to our clients, our shareholders and other key stakeholders has been a core focus during the second half of the year. During this period of change, we have continued to progress activities relating to the sustainability strategy, managing our impact on the environment, supporting our people and the communities we operate in and ensuring high standards of corporate governance in our own business.

Managing our impact on the environment

We offer sustainability-orientated funds to clients, ranging from those with norms-based and environmental, social and governance (ESG) screens to those with a sustainable thematic or impact focus.

As of 30 June 2024, $16.9 billion of our assets under management (AUM) were in funds with an ESG, sustainability or impact label in their product name, or where sustainability is mentioned in the investment objective of the fund or is a stated client intent in the schedule of an Investment Management Account.

These funds benefit from the expertise of teams across the Perpetual Group, including Trillium and Regnan, who have been at the forefront of sustainable investing over decades.

In FY24, funds that we define as supporting a low carbon future saw outflows due to a more challenging investment environment for sustainability-orientated funds but we continue to explore investment products to meet the needs of our clients on this topic.1

Progress has been made on our commitments relating to the environmental impact of our own operations. In FY24, we procured GreenPower for our Australian operations and we are on track to be carbon neutral for our global operations.1 For the first time, we also received Climate Active certification for our Australian operations.2

We have developed a climate roadmap to prepare for mandatory climate-related disclosures in Australia under the draft Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS).

As part of our roadmap, in FY24 we undertook a project to assess our climate-related risks at a Group level and within our Asset Management business. We conducted focus groups with each of our Asset Management boutiques to understand the climate-related risks they face and the controls in place to manage those risks.

During the year, we launched

a new Gender Equality Strategy, which prioritises retaining, promoting and hiring women in leadership roles.

Championing diversity and supporting our people through change

We are committed to creating a more inclusive workplace and ensuring our industry is welcoming to, and supportive of, women and people from diverse backgrounds. In FY24, 37% of our senior leaders globally were women, an increase from 34% in FY23 but below our 40% target for FY24.

Female representation in investment professional roles in Australia is 19%, flat on the previous year and below our target of 25% by FY24.

During the year, we launched a new Gender Equality Strategy, which prioritises retaining, promoting and hiring women in leadership roles and sets clear divisional targets with bi-monthly reporting to drive accountability for delivering the targets.

We are part of industry partnerships with Future IM/Pact and Women in Banking and Finance in Australia, J O Hambro's partnership with Diversity Project Pathway in the UK, and Barrow Hanley's work with STREAM in the US, all of whom share an ambition to increase the number of people from underrepresented communities in asset management through internships, graduate schemes and work experience initiatives.

The announcement to separate our business follows

on from a period of integration in our Asset Management business, following the acquisition of Pendal Group, which was completed in January 2023. This has been a prolonged period of organisational change, which has had an impact on how our people are feeling about work. 'Leading through Complex Change' workshops have been delivered across our business to provide 218 of our leaders with the skills to support their teams and their own wellbeing. All employees have access to Perpetual's Employee Assistance Program, which offers free and confidential counselling to staff and their families.

Upholding the highest standard for clients and in our business

Our primary way of understanding how our clients are feeling about Perpetual Group is through our annual Net Promoter Score (NPS).3 Our NPS in FY24 was +53, our second highest ever score, and above our target of +40. It is a credit to our people who have continued to support and deliver for our clients through this period of change.

Perpetual Group is committed to managing its key risks through robust corporate governance and by making effective risk management central to decision making and business practices. During the year, mandatory online training was conducted on topics such as anti-money laundering, counter terrorism, sanctions, information security and generative artificial intelligence.

As the sophistication of cyber-attacks continues to increase, protecting the privacy and safeguarding the personal information of our clients is critical. We have a Data Management Framework that covers how data are managed across Perpetual Group, enhanced oversight and monitoring of select critical third-party service providers on cyber security, and data breach and cyber-incident response plans in place to effectively manage any security incidents.

Supporting strong communities

We are a longstanding supporter of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and in FY24, we supported the call for a First Nations Voice to be enshrined in the Constitution. While the referendum was ultimately unsuccessful, our support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has not wavered. During the year, we came to the end of our 2021-2023 Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), which sets out the actions we are taking to promote reconciliation.1

Our impact on communities extends to the work of our Wealth Management business, where the Philanthropy team manages over 1,100 charitable trusts, foundations and endowments, helping philanthropists to have greater impact in the communities they are passionate about.

In FY24, we have $3.6 billion in funds under advice (FUA) on behalf of philanthropists, and, in FY24, our clients granted $124 million to the charity sector.

We are proud to partner with charities like LifeChanger and Running for Premature Babies. This year, we gave the equivalent of $2.51 million through donations and volunteering.2 This is below our target of giving the equivalent of 1% of underlying profit before tax (UPBT). Our community giving spend has been impacted by a lack of bandwidth for community activities given the extent of corporate change, which has meant we have had to pause some activities due to the focus on the Strategic Review.

Looking to the future

As we look ahead to FY25 and as we chart a path for future success for Perpetual Group, maintaining a responsible and sustainable approach will continue to be critical

for our business. We are already planning now for that future and, subject to our shareholders agreeing to the separation of our Wealth Management and Corporate Trust businesses, a materiality assessment will be undertaken to understand the sustainability-related issues that are most relevant for a multi-boutique, global asset management business. Work is also being undertaken to support our Wealth Management and Corporate Trust teams on key sustainability-related projects so those businesses are also well prepared for their future regulatory and disclosure requirements.

This has been a significant year for Perpetual Group, and despite a period of change, we have continued to make progress on our sustainability strategy. Through our Prosperity Plan, we are committed to continuing to develop and improve our approach on sustainability, and to play our part to help create a more equitable and sustainable world.

As we look ahead to FY25 and as we chart a path for future success for Perpetual Group, maintaining a responsible and sustainable approach will continue to be critical for our business.

Perpetual Group's Prosperity Plan

In September 2022, we launched our sustainability strategy, Perpetual's Prosperity Plan. Our FY24 Sustainability Report provides an update on performance in FY24 across the four pillars within our Prosperity Plan.

Governance Planet

People Communities

Focusing on our material issues

Perpetual Group's material issues inform the topics and structure of our FY24 sustainability reporting.

As part of developing our sustainability strategy, in 2022 we conducted a materiality assessment to identify the sustainability issues most material to our business and stakeholders. The priority themes of the materiality assessment are described in the graphic on the right.

Subject to the Scheme being approved by our shareholders (see page 7), a materiality assessment will then be undertaken to understand the sustainability-related issues that are most relevant for a multi-boutique, global asset management business.

Good governance

See pages 12-13

Behaviours and conduct

See pages 12-13

Risk management

See page 13

Ethical business

See pages 13-15

Client care

See page 15

Data privacy

See page 14

Transparency and anti-corruption

See page 13

Sustainable products and services

See pages 16-18

Sustainable products and capabilities

See page 17

Integrating ESG considerations

Decarbonisation

See pages 21-30

Investment exposure to carbon-related risks

See pages 21 and 30

Disclosure of climate risks

See pages 26-30

Operational environmental footprint

See pages 23-25

Local environmental impacts

See pages 24-25

Waste

See page 25

Paper usage

See page 25

Sustainable buildings

See page 24

For more than 135 years, Perpetual Group has been building prosperity for our clients.

We know that lasting financial wellbeing depends on a sustainable planet and resilient, equitable communities. This is our plan to create enduring prosperity, not only for our clients and shareholders, but also for communities and the environment

on which we all depend.

On this page is a description of the four pillars of our sustainability strategy and a high-level overview of our progress on our commitments.

Despite a significant period of change for our business, 26 of our 35 commitments are either on track or achieved.