Aon Master Trust has partnered with Tumelo in a bid to boost member engagement on a range of ESG issues.
Tumelo has developed software which gives investors visibility of the companies in which they are invested and enables them to engage on issues about which they may care, such as gender equality or climate change.
Aon says its hopes this partnership will help increased knowledge and understanding about ESG issues, and encourage members to take more interest in where there pension is invested.
Tumelo is available to members of The Aon MasterTrust through an area of the member website devoted to investing responsibly.
It enables members to see and explore the companies that they are invested in through the default funds, and allows them to learn of upcoming shareholder votes and to share their views on these. The software then collects the voting preference of users, informs the fund managers ahead of a company’s annual general meeting and reports back to members.
Tumelo already offers services to a number of other pension providers including Legal & General and Aviva.
Tony Pugh, partner and EMEA defined contribution solutions leader at Aon, says: “ESG concerns have become increasingly prominent in the last couple of years but the means by which individual pension investors could be engaged with their investments have been relatively limited. It’s great that we can offer this opportunity to members of The Aon MasterTrust to be able to learn more about important issues and share their views.
“We are seeing far more awareness from scheme members about ESG-related matters and an increasing demand to have a better understanding of how and where their funds are invested.”
Tumelo CEO Georgia Stewart adds: “Tumelo was founded with the express purpose of giving investors greater transparency on where their money is invested and empowering them to participate in shareholder voting. We are working closely with fund managers around the world to ensure members’ voices are being considered and are used to influence positive change at companies.”
She added that the UK pensions industry had made considerable progress on this issue, with millions of pension members now having access to technologies like Tumelo’s Shareholder Platform.