The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published the list of asset owners, asset managers and service providers who are signatories to its new tougher stewardship code.
In the list of asset owners Nest is the only standalone auto-enrolment master trust provider to be a signatory. Other asset owners who are signatories include Aviva Life and Pensions and Scottish Widows Group.
Aegon Asset Management, Aviva Investors, Cardano Risk Management, Fidelity International and LGIM are among the 90 asset managers that are signatories.
Aon, Hymans Robertson, Lane, Clark & Peacock, Mercer, Redington, Willis Towers Watson, XPS and Glass Lewis are also signatories as service providers.
The FRC says this new code sets high standards of stewardship for those investing money on behalf of UK savers and pensioners. It says successful applicants have demonstrated their commitment to stewardship, and investing for a sustainable future.
Scottish Widows head of pension investments Maria Nazarova-Doyle says: “The new UK Stewardship Code has raised the bar in terms of what is expected from asset owners and our inclusion as one of the first signatories recognises the great strides we’ve made over the last year in developing our active stewardship strategy.
“Whilst we’re incredibly pleased to have met the challenging stewardship standards of the 2020 code, we recognise this is just the beginning and there’s still work to be done as we look to continue to evolve our focus on stewardship over the long term.”
Simon Jones, head of responsible investment, Hymans Robertson says: “The 2020 Code set a high bar for organisations to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to stewardship and we are delighted that the work that we have undertaken in recent years to embed responsible investment practices into our day-to-day activity has been recognised by the FRC.
“We have an important responsibility, and duty, to our clients, our employees and to the wider market to demonstrate leadership on issues including diversity and inclusion, and climate change.”
Diandra Soobiah, Nest’s head of responsible investment, says: “Stewardship is key to Nest’s responsible investment approach and we’re pleased to see our engagement strategy achieving good outcomes, encouraging a global bank and an oil and gas company to set net zero and Paris Agreement-aligned emissions targets.
“We’re committed to sharing information on our approach and showing the outcomes achieved, to help drive best practice and engaged stewardship across the pensions industry.
“Our members expect us to invest their money responsibly and that’s what we’ll continue to do. Whether that’s by voting at annual general meetings or engaging directly with executives, we’ll continue to make our members’ voices heard in the boardroom.”
Sylvia Pozezanac, president and CEO of Mercer UK says: “Effective stewardship is critical in supporting sustainable economic growth.
“Mercer is proud to become a signatory to the 2020 UK Stewardship Code and to play our part in strengthening stewardship practices across the investment chain. We will continue to support our asset owner clients in raising stewardship standards and to embed further strong stewardship expectations across both our manager research and our investment solutions.”
