Now Pensions is the latest pension provider to become a a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code.
The UK Stewardship Code, run by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) now has 287 signatories, representing a substantial £50.1 trillion in assets under management. This includes 196 asset managers, 72 asset owners, and 19 service providers.
Now Pensions says the decision to become a signatory comes at an important time in the scheme’s development, where it has significantly increased its focus on responsible investing on behalf of its members.
The pension scheme has implemented a revised default investment strategy in which the majority of the listed equity assets are managed directly by their investment manager, Cardano. It says that this allows for the stewardship of the assets to be more closely aligned to the core principles of the trustees, with a focus on living wage, gender equality and sustainability — as well as delivering better outcomes for members.
The changes to Nows default investment strategy form part of wider changes to its proposition that will be rolled out to members in 2025, which include introducing new investment choice alongside the default option.
Chair of the trustees for Now Pensions Joanne Segars says: “As trustees, we recognise the central role of stewardship in contributing to member outcomes.
This is particularly important when addressing long term systemic sustainability issues which will affect economic outcomes and therefore our members’ pensions. We are very pleased to become signatories of the UK stewardship code, the leading international code that demonstrates we are adhering to the highest standards of good practice for stewardship.”
Now Pensions head of sustainability Keith Guthrie adds: “At Now Pensions we believe it is critical that stewardship seeks to address long term challenges like climate change and social inequalities like gender diversity and living wages.
“We seek to ensure that there is consistency between our beliefs and those of our investment manager and the third-party managers we invest with. We want to see consistent engagement by our investment managers in terms of their messages to companies, their voting on the shares we own, and escalating engagement where necessary.
“The UK stewardship code signatory status is an acknowledgement of the hard work by the team at Now Pensions and our investment manager Cardano in ensuring the highest standards are in place to drive outcomes for our members.”
