New guidelines for UK fund managers:
Occupational pension schemes are required to document and disclose online their policy on engaging with investee companies, their investment strategy and their arrangements with asset managers.
The Pensions Regulator will update their guidance with regards to engagement, investment strategy and asset manager arrangements.
Trustees have an important role to play in the oversight of the companies in which they invest and to whom they lend. It’s important that trustees fulfil the responsibilities associated with holding the investments in members’ best interests.
…
Update their Statement of Investment Principle (SIP) for policies on financially material considerations, non-financial matters, and stewardship (except the information concerning capital structure, management of actual and potential conflicts of interest and another stakeholder) by 1 October 2019.
Trustees need to be transparent about their scheme’s arrangements with their asset managers including how the arrangement incentivises the asset manager to act in accordance with trustee policies and the duration of the arrangement. Trustees need to include this information (and the information concerning capital structure, management of actual and potential conflicts of interest and another stakeholder) in their SIP by 1 October 2020.
Trustees must publish their SIP free of charge online from 1 October 2019, but they do not have to publish their asset manager policy nor the part of their stewardship policy concerning capital structure, management of actual and potential conflicts of interest and other stakeholders until 1 October 2020.
An implementation statement, reporting against the policies in the SIP should be published from 1 October 2020, but they will not have to include any information detailing how they have implemented their asset manager policy and how they have implemented the part of their stewardship policy concerning capital structure, management of actual and potential conflicts of interest and other stakeholders until 1 October 2021.
ValueEdge Advisors 