Some of the UK’s largest pension schemes have created a group to push for greater diversity in fund management. Andrew Holt reports.
Some of the UK’s largest pension schemes are working together to improve diversity in the fund management industry.
The Church of England and various local government pension schemes are just some of those collectively managing more than £1trn of retirement assets to commit to a diversity charter to tackle the issue head on.
Signatories to the Asset Owner Diversity Charter are committing to consider diversity and inclusion when appointing fund managers.
The charter is being managed by the Asset Owner Diversity Working Group, which has been formed by Nest, Railpen, the pension schemes of the West Midlands and Lothian as well as London CIV and Brunel Pension Partnership.
It is co-chaired by Helen Price, stewardship manager at Brunel, and David Hickey, portfolio manager at Lothian.
Diversity questions will form part of the selection process – meaning that fund managers wanting to work with these asset owners will have to disclose information on, and demonstrate their commitment to, tackling diversity and inclusion within their workforce.
Signatories also commit to include diversity as part of ongoing manager monitoring with a questionnaire provided to managers annually for completion. A key aim of the group is to create standardisation to improve disclosure.
The questionnaire goes beyond asking about the strategic approach by identifying how managers look at diversity and inclusion across five areas: industry perception, recruitment, culture, promotion and leadership
