The third quarter is always relatively quiet – at least from a voting perspective – and this has provided the opportunity to start work on thematic engagements focused on diversity, water and the life cycle of renewable energy assets. At the same time, working alongside Quilter Investors, we are engaging with investment trust boards to improve the responsible investment related disclosure they provide to shareholders. More details of this can be found within the engagement activity section of the report.
We are proud to note that, as part of Quilter, we retained signatory status of the UK Stewardship Code. This code sets a high bar for what’s expected from firms managing assets on behalf of UK consumers. Our active ownership and approach to stewardship is an important component of our overall responsible investment approach across Quilter. We are delighted to retain our signatory status and will use the feedback from the Financial Reporting Council to continue to enhance our reporting and disclosure of our stewardship activity.
We launched our RI Reels vlog, which features Kirsty Ward, Responsible Investment Analyst, discussing a new topic every few weeks – so far this has included an introduction to the team and a review of the AGM season. Next up is a discussion with our Chief Investment Officer on our clients’ responsible investment preferences.
Finally, for those charities invested in our Global Income and Growth Fund for Charities we produced our first annual responsible investment report.