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Building on our 16 November event, this round table discussion addressed the question of what Authorised Fund Manager (AFM) boards should be doing next when it comes to Responsible Investment, i.e. addressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors within and across their fund ranges.

We were joined by Claudia Chapman, Head of Stewardship at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and Mark Manning, Technical Specialist, Sustainable Finance and Stewardship, at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) who opened the discussion, covering themes such as:

  • What are some common themes in responsible investing frameworks, including the FRC’s Stewardship Code, UN Principles for Responsible Investment and the Net Zero Investment Framework (from the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC))?
  • How are asset managers approaching aligning with these frameworks, including insights from the FRC’s assessment of Stewardship Reports from successful (and unsuccessful) signatories to their Code?
  • Why are these frameworks relevant to AFM boards and their regulatory responsibilities, including monitoring promises of ‘ESG integration’ across funds (i.e. both ESG-specific and other funds)?
  • What are the key current FCA Stewardship requirements relevant to authorised funds and AFM boards including direction of travel indicated by things like:

CP21/17 on TCFD reporting requirements and extending these to AFMs

DP21/4 on Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and investment labels

The UK Governments’ Greening Finance: A Roadmap to Sustainable Investing

We opened the forum to the attendees for an interesting discussion about how these matters are being considered on their fund boards.

This event was relevant for Fund Board Council corporate members and invited guests, including Authorised Fund Manager (AFM) board independent and executive directors, as well as senior executives involved in board matters (e.g. heads of product, heads of responsible investment, etc)