Should we expect investment managers to change the world?

Should we expect investment managers to change the world? 🌏

Busy week of conferences last week, attending both The Investment Association‘s Stewardship & Corporate Governance Forum and Net Zero Investor‘s Annual DC Conference. 🌱

During the IA event, conversations turned towards the evolution of stewardship expectations — with investment managers facing increased scrutiny from their asset owner clients.

One audience poll highlighted just how significant this disconnect has become — 54% of attendees identified misalignment across the investment chain as one of the biggest challenges to effective implementation of stewardship. A further 26% pointed to ‘unrealistic expectations placed on managers’ as the key issue.

We probably can’t expect investment managers to change the world, but it’s clear that asset owners deserve greater transparency on achieved engagement outcomes.🔍

This was brilliantly captured by Tom Sanders from Nest pensions the following day at Net Zero Investor’s conference during a panel discussion moderated by Nico Aspinall. “Outcomes are something that we need to focus on a lot more”, “being clear with managers that we don’t expect all engagements to be successful, but transparency is key”.

As the Financial Reporting Council’s consultation on the UK Stewardship Code comes to a close, we can hope that the revisions will help strengthen the accountability that stewardship so urgently needs.

It was also encouraging to hear panelists acknowledge the role of technology in addressing this challenge. At Compass Insights, we’re committed to playing our part—helping to streamline stewardship disclosures and support constructive dialogue between asset managers and their investors. 📈

– Gustave