It has been a busy quarter as this is the peak AGM season across all geographies. At the same time, we have also seen an increase in shareholder resolutions being put forward at US company annual general meetings.
This has been a busy quarter in other ways as well – there has been a lot of commentary about 'ESG'; in the media and the industry as a whole. We have addressed a number of the concerns raised in a series of articles we have included within the In the spotlight section of the report, link to download the report can be found below.
Within Quilter Cheviot, we launched a new DPS Focused investment strategy, which harnesses our research and responsible investment process, as well as data from external providers, to implement ESG factor screening on a positive and negative basis. This will ensure more emphasis is placed on ESG risks beyond the firmwide approach to active ownership and ESG integration. This strategy sits alongside our Positive Change and Climate Assets strategies. For more information see the Responsible Investment at Quilter Cheviot section on our website.
We also began to collect clients’ responsible investment preferences as part of our ongoing process of ensuring that we are delivering the investment solutions appropriate for each client. This will take place over a two-year cycle and is ahead of regulatory change within the UK, as we feel that this is an area which is coming under increasing scrutiny and it’s important that we get this right.
Our colleague, Kirsty Ward, took part in the MPS in the Loop vlog and will be hosting our new RI Reels vlog which is launching over the summer. The first edition will be focused on introducing the responsible investment team and future vlogs will cover different responsible investment related topics. Our focus is now turning to our climate action plan across Quilter as well as thematic engagements on diversity, water and disclosure by investment trusts.