stewardship Archives

Sports Direct takes action to respond to criticisms of working practices and corporate governance

Major institutional investors were among those criticising retailer Sports Direct at its AGM this week and showed their disquiet about the company through their votes. The majority of independent shareholders voted against the re-election of the chairman Keith Hellawell …

ShareAction calls for institutional investors to do more to address UK poverty

Institutional investors must do more to reduce in-work poverty and improve the quality of work in the UK’s private sector, according to a report published by ShareAction. The report evaluates the potential of investor-led strategies to address inequality and protect

A strong, healthy company culture adds long-term value

A strong corporate culture that is embedded throughout a company and reinforced with strong leadership by the chief executive and chairman can produce long-term value for businesses a study by the Financial Reporting Council has found.

The report, based on …

Investors have role to play in tackling forced labour

Investors need to engage more effectively with companies on forced labour and ensure that firms are meeting reporting requirements according to the latest Investor Briefing by pressure group, ShareAction.

The briefing includes examples of shareholder engagement with companies as well …

Sustainability needs to move into the mainstream business and climate summit told

The Paris climate change agreement has mobilised business and investors to take more action to reduce carbon emissions but to get the estimated $5 trillion a year of investment needed to move to a low carbon economy there needs to …

$4.8 trillion investor coalition backs first business and human rights benchmark

A coalition of over 80 institutional investors, with $4.8 trillion in assets under management, has pledged support for the creation of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) – the world’s first wide-scale benchmark on companies’ human rights policies, processes and …

European Responsible Investment Network is formed

A new Civil Society Organisation (CSO), the European Responsible Investment Network (ERIN), was launched last week at a conference in Berlin. The network is made up of 25 organisations from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the …

Groups call for more radical thinking on executive pay

More radical solutions to rising executive pay need to be found than those proposed by the Investment Association’s Executive Remuneration Working Group in its recent interim report, according to the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) and the High Pay …

Swiss pensions funds could improve on responsible investment says new study

Environmental charity, WWF, together with Responsible Investment (RI) pressure group ShareAction, has carried out the first survey examining the RI approaches of the 20 largest Swiss pension funds. The study analysed how far pension funds invest their beneficiaries’ money sustainably …

Short-term shareholders damage UK companies and wider economy claim two new reports

British companies are losing out – potentially by over £130bn a year – because they lack clear corporate purposes that unite all stakeholders in common goals and values, according to the interim report by the Purposeful Company Taskforce, which was …