Regulation
Duty downplayed
Nextwealth’s latest report found that 56% of advisers don’t expect the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty to impact their firm. Other adviser views on the regulation are in Money Marketing here. The full report, ‘Consumer Duty: Implications for the retail wealth management supply chain’, is not out yet but available here when it is.
FBC Annual Conference, 2022
Consumer Duty will be a key topic at our annual conference next week, along with Assessment of Value three years on. FBC corporate members and invited guests will convene to explore these key fund governance topics and hear from the FCA’s Nike Trost, Garry Murdoch and Michael Collins, and two panels of subject matter experts.
ELTIF agreement
Key elements of the EU provisional agreement on the review of the regulation on European long-term investment funds (ELTIF), are reported on in Investment Officer here. Read the European Council press announcement here.
Responsible Investment
Labelling lockdown
Labels are high on the agenda. Those in the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements consultation, here, may force over 100 funds to change their names, according to Broadridge data analysis in Ignites Europe here. And in the EU, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) consultation proposing the introduction of thresholds when using words such as environmental, social, governance and sustainable in their product names may have a big impact on article 8 funds particularly. Ignites Europe reports on the Morningstar data here.
For more information on the FCA’s Sustainable Disclosure Requirements (SDR) consultation, including the proposed labels, Fund Boards Council (FBC) corporate members can view the full recording of our round table with the FCA’s Mark Manning in the FBC Member Portal here. Hosted by FBC senior adviser Brandon Horwitz, he was also joined by Sandra Carlisle, Head of Sustainability at Jupiter and iNED Julie Patterson to address key questions around the consultation.
Calling ESG evidence
ESMA, has teamed up with the European Banking Authority and European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority to launch a review into the key features, drivers and risks associated with greenwashing, and to collect examples of potential greenwashing practices. Read more in Ignites Europe here. Read the press release and access the document for response, open until January 10 2023, here.
Conducting ESG
The FCA has formed a group to develop a Code of Conduct for Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) data and ratings providers. Take a look at the key industry players involved, in the press release here, and the Ignites Europe take here.
B-coming greener
Investment Week reports here, that 58 UK investment firms have become a B Corporation, as London becomes the city with the most B Corps in the world. Among the investment firms included in the list are First Sentier Investors, EQ Investors, Beckett Investment Management Group, and AKO Capital.
Costly claims
Goldman Sachs has agreed a $4mn penalty with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following it ruling that the bank’s asset management division misled customers about environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments. Read the finer details in the Financial Times (FT) here.
Market News
Overwhelming operations
Northern Trust’s operating system is under scrutiny by UK regulators according to the FT here. This was following it being overwhelmed by the demands of processing margin calls in the wake of the former UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s “mini” Budget on September 23.
Fund fees
Following a review of its UK open-ended fund management fees, Fidelity International has chosen not to follow other asset management companies in providing reductions on a systematic basis. The details are in Ignites Europe here.
Voting with intent
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) is rolling out ISS Vote Preference, a service that will allow asset managers to “capture and execute” the vote intentions of their underlying clients. More on this in Ignites Europe here.
People
Guiding governance
Schroders Personal Wealth (SPW) has appointed Dominic Sheridan to the newly created role of CEO of its Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) business. Formerly chief operating officer and CEO of Omnis Investments, Dominic will be responsible for the day-to-day governance of SPW’s funds. Portfolio Adviser reports here.
Dual duties
Judy Marlinski has been appointed non-executive chair of Newton Investment Management’s UK and North America boards, following Susan Noble stepping down as chair of the UK board. She will support the expansion of Newton’s US business while coordinating with Newton UK to implement the firm’s strategy, Portfolio Adviser reports here.
Several of the news outlet cited in this blog require registration or subscription. Also, FBC takes no responsibility for the accuracy or quality of the news in the links provided above, and nor are the views and comments representative of FBC or its members, unless expressly stated. Content stored on the FBC portal is freely accessible for FBC members.
