City Hive and Invesco have announced a partnership where the asset manager is joining City Hive’s Action, Challenge, Transparency (ACT) Alliance to help develop the ACT framework and “build back trust” for the investment management industry.
Developed by City Hive, the ACT framework was launched in 2022 to focus the attention of the investment industry on investment management culture and values, identifying operational, social and governance factors that explicitly support progress on culture and inclusion.
However, signatories have begun to recognise that investment companies are now playing an increasing role in shaping an equitable society, and so, according to Sachin Bhatia, head of UK pensions and EMEA consultant relations at Invesco, now is the time to further develop the adoption and evolution of the ACT framework with a focus on the institutional market.
“Corporate culture is increasingly becoming a key consideration when clients are evaluating managers and determining if they want to work with a particular firm or manager,” continued Bhatia.
“At Invesco, we have always valued an inclusive culture, as it leads to a collaborative approach, better decision making and ultimately better outcomes for our clients and our staff. As founding signatories to ACT, we have always understood and supported the need for this innovative framework, and we are now excited to be able to partner with City Hive to support its evolution.”
According to ACT signatories, the expectations of stakeholders, from clients and employees to wider society, is for investors to demonstrate evidence that value creation and stewardship of wealth is in responsible hands because they are a responsible business.
ACT’s structured disclosure, therefore, is designed to enable firms to pinpoint good performance, where to improve and how to create the opportunities to do so within a predictable framework to communicate to stakeholders.
The disclosure framework provides a standardised way for investment companies to understand, create and progress cultural change, and to be able to communicate progress effectively via reporting. Signatory firms contribute to a growing body of data on firm approaches and industry practice.
Bev Shah and Mandy Kirby, co-CEOs at City Hive, added: “We are proud to have Invesco standing with us and support our mission to democratise access to investing and investments. Only by being transparent and honest about who we are can we build back public trust in the investment management industry.
“By partnering with us and joining the ACT Alliance, Invesco has committed to collaborate to correct a complex global challenge to create and maintain stakeholder trust. Working collectively, we can reach the tipping point for change, starting by moving the conversation on culture onwards through transparency and then trust.”
