New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today issued the following statement regarding New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s strategy to address the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s investments in companies doing business in Iran:

I am pleased that New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is following the course set by my office and the New York City Pension Funds to ensure that our pension dollars are not advancing the cause of terrorism.

This has been an issue of paramount importance during my 5½ years in office. If we are trying to eradicate terrorism, we must ensure that companies in our portfolio are not using off-shore subsidiaries to legally evade United States sanctions against terrorist-sponsoring nations.

During my tenure, my office has forced a number of U.S. companies to cease doing business, through their foreign subsidiaries, in Iran. Working with the Boards of Trustees of the New York City Pension Funds, my office has prompted Halliburton, the Aon Corporation, Cooper Cameron, ConocoPhilips, Foster Wheeler, and General Electric to not only assess their financial and reputational risks posed by their business ties to Iran, but to commit to ceasing those activities.

The New York City Pension Funds and I are extremely proud of these accomplishments.

However, the reach of terrorism knows no boundaries, and we as a city, state and nation must not allow terrorism to encroach on our society. This is why my office and the Pension Funds continue our efforts.
 
My office has contacted a number of foreign companies in which the Pension Funds currently have investments to inquire about any of their activities involving Iran’s energy sector.

In July of this year, in fact, my office coordinated a letter-writing initiative with other institutional investors. Included were the New York State Comptroller’s Office, North Carolina Treasurer’s Office, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), and Illinois State Board of Investment.

On July 19, 2007, letters were sent to eight companies in Iran’s oil and gas sector, asking them to respond in writing by August 31, 2007, describing their policies and safeguards to mitigate the significant risks to their operations in Iran’s oil and gas sector, and the potential negative impact on their stock price and reputation.

This action was consistent with a multi-pronged, deliberative process that my office and the Pension Funds have consistently followed. From its outset, this process has included the following:

1. Contacting companies to urge them to report on their policies and safeguards, as described above, and then reviewing and evaluating each company’s response.
   
   
2. Holding discussions/meetings with emerging markets and EAFE investment managers to ascertain their preparedness to provide alternative investment options, actions already taken by investment managers to address the concerns of other clients who are subject to legislative mandates, and the potential financial costs and risks associated with alternative investment approaches, such as an equivalent Iran-free index.
   
   
3. Reviewing companies in question to determine appropriate options consistent with the fiduciary responsibility of the Comptroller and the Funds’ Boards of Trustees.

ur responsibility to protect retiree assets requires a constant effort to pursue the highest standards of corporate responsibility at companies in which we invest. For the safety and security of the United States and other peace-seeking nations around the world, institutional investors must continue to insist that the firms in which they invest not attempt to wriggle out of sanctions against state sponsors of terror by acting through subsidiaries not beholden to American law.

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