FEATURES & ANALYSIS
Distribution Oversight
Exploring best practices
Led by FBC senior adviser Simon Hynes, we recently welcomed Invesco’s Birgit Sammer, Columbia Threadneedle’s Chris Town and M&G’s Laurence Mumford for an FBC digital meeting on ‘Exploring Distribution Oversight and Best Practices’, which accompanies a white paper of the same topic.
Overseeing ESG
The destination for fund boards
The temperature continues to rise on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) funds and fund boards play an essential role in overseeing how ESG is implemented, so what should they be doing to help keep their funds on the right flightpath?
FBC has been researching this question in recent months, speaking with dozens of fund board directors and other professionals around the world to understand how they oversee ESG funds. Read the latest insight here.
Viewpoint
Peter Christmas unpacks the implications of the FCA’s ‘Dear CEO’ letter to custody and fund services providers
Following the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Dear CEO letter to custody and fund services providers in March, Peter Christmas looks at the identified four areas of “potential harm” to clients, end-consumers or to market integrity, and the implications for all participants who provide services to UK funds and their fund boards. Read the article here.
Letter from LUX
Sheenagh Gordon-Hart reports from Luxembourg
In our new regular newsletter column portfolio iNED and partner in The Directors’ Office, Sheenagh Gordon-Hart, has taken up the mantle to provide the latest on doing business in the successful fund domicile of Luxembourg. Read the first instalment here.
Podcasts
Fund board effectiveness and mindfulness
FBC’s Catherine Battershill speaks with experienced non-executive director, and FBC advisory council member David Butcher on the importance of mindfulness and self-awareness in the boardroom, here.
Rising interest rates and inflation
And on how fund managers have been reacting to events including the impact of the Ukraine war, rising interest rates and inflation, and the fall-out of Covid-19, FBC’s Brandon Horwitz speaks to Sebastjan Smodis of State Street Global Advisers, here.
FBC in the community
A very personal account
Fiona Evans, director, head of operations, FBC, wanted to help when war broke out in Ukraine. Read her personal account of rehoming Nadiia, a Ukranian fleeing from Kyiv, from using the rehoming organisations to the logistics of settling her new guest in, here.
Board business
Top reads
Regulation and consumer cynicism were top of the most read list from our blog last week.
In case you need to catch up with the crowd, here are the relevant excerpts:
EU review
EU finance ministers met in Luxembourg on Friday, 17 June 2022, to agree on a shared stance for the ongoing review into UCITs rules and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ahead of plenary negotiations with MEPs. Read the press release here.Prepared for Duty?
Deloitte survey findings on how investment managers and wealth managers are preparing for Consumer Duty – including how Consumer Duty ranks versus other strategic priorities, key challenges of implementation, which committees are likely to be responsible for the governance and oversight of outcomes, here.Consumer Cynicism
In other words, it’s not enough to be right. You’d better be able to prove it. Does the consumer world need to tone down the green talk, for its own good? Risk that even as regulators crack down, consumers become more cynical. In the Financial Times here.FBC Member Events & Engagements
July-September 2022
Linking with Luxembourg
6 July 2022
As part FBC’s focus on cross border fund governance, we are hosting our inaugural member event in Luxembourg.
Franklin Templeton is our host for this in-person meeting, and it is being held in conjunction with the Luxembourg fund association ALFI. We have a full agenda with expert speakers, including Marco Zwick,director of the Luxembourg regulator, CSSF. Further details are here. The event will be recorded and available to all FBC corporate members on-demand in their member portal shortly after.
Discussion on the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements consultation
5 September 2022
Our speakers for this meeting are: Mark Manning, Technical Specialist, Sustainable Finance and Stewardship, Financial Conduct Authority, Sandra Carlisle, Head of Sustainability at Jupiter and iNED Julie Patterson. We will explore the FCA’s proposals and consider what they mean for fund boards, both in terms of implementation and overseeing ongoing alignment with the requirements. For more information, click here. FBC Members can register for this event, here.
