Allianz, BNP Paribas and Columbia Threadneedle are among 43 new signatories to the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) UK Stewardship Code this year.
The UK Stewardship Code is a set of principles for asset owners and managers to ensure they are meeting expectations on how they are managing money on behalf of savers and pensioners and how this leads to sustainable benefits for the economy, the environment and society.
Last year, due to a new requirement to show detailed evidence of how their actions complied with the code, nearly half of asset managers who applied did not make the list.
See also: – 60% of asset managers successfully sign UK Stewardship Code
This year, around 75% of the new successful applicants are asset managers. The total number of signatories is now 236, with assets under management of £40.7trn, up from £33.3trn.
The FRC said it was also encouraged that signatories who were successful for a second year had used feedback from last year to improve.
“The FRC saw improvements in several areas, such as the quality of activity and outcome reporting for engagement, collaboration and escalation; contributions to addressing market wide and systemic risks and improving the functioning of the financial markets; and reporting on how signatories monitor and hold to account third parties, such as asset managers and service providers,” it said in a statement.
However, it noted there still needs to be greater emphasis by signatories on reporting their activities and outcomes during the reporting period, using both quantitative and qualitative evidence.
“It’s great to see improvements in how organisations are evidencing their stewardship each year and more tailored explanations on how they apply the Code to demonstrate their stewardship activity and outcomes effectively,” said Mark Babington, executive director of regulatory standards at the FRC.
“Using our feedback to provide clear, comprehensive and outcome-based reporting is what the spirit of the Code is all about.”
