A report by the Asset Management Working Group of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative links the integration of ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues into investment processes with legal responsibilities of fiduciaries (including pension trustees, asset managers and investment advisors). It also calls into question whether the institutional investment industry responsible ownership […]
Read MoreSir David Walker’s review of the governance of UK banks, commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has published 39 recommendations aimed at improving the governance of banks and other big financial institutions (BOFIs). The aim of the report was to find ways of minimising risky behaviour and improving the way companies and shareholder communicate and interact. Many of the […]
Read MoreIn response to the widespread criticism from government and media over the role of investors in the financial crisis, the UK’s National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has released research which show that just under half (49%) of its bigger pension scheme members will spend more time scrutinising the actions of their fund managers on engagement […]
Read MoreShareholder engagement is on the up according to the UK’s Investment Management Association which has just published its fifth annual Engagement Survey. The report brings together a review of IMA members general approach to voting disclosure between July 2007 and July 2008 as well as taking a look at seven contentious issue case studies. The […]
Read MoreAs the Treasury Select Committee (TSC) hearings rumble on, professional investors have been under close scrutiny. Had Alistair Darling had the foresight to tax the word ‘responsibility’, he could probably have recouped a large slice of the unprecedented sums the public purse is currently spending. Investor responsibility raises two very simple and potentially conflicting questions. […]
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