An Introduction to The Stewardship Code
24th February 2021
We held an excellent interactive roundtable session with members to hear an Introduction to The Stewardship Code.
The UK Stewardship Code 2020 took effect on 1st January 2020 and sets high expectations of those investing money on behalf of UK savers and pensioners, not just in equities, but in other asset classes, including real estate and infrastructure.
View our UK Stewardship Code page for more information.
Thank you to our expert speakers Claudia Chapman from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and Stanley Kwong from Aviva Investors. Thank you to Jen Sisson from the FRC who kindly stepped in at short notice to moderate the session, and to the Investment Association who have been working on their own Stewardship project in connection with the FRC.
This event was aimed at AREF members who are less familiar with the Code and deciding whether they would like to become signatories. Expert speakers discussed some of the challenges of reporting on real estate, including the opportunities for different fund structures and looking at ESG risk exposure and impact.
After a brief introduction from Jen, Claudia gave a history of the Financial Reporting Council, followed by a breakdown of the voluntary principals that make up the Stewardship Code, which is aimed at asset managers, asset owners and the service providers that support them. She explained the purpose of the Code and covered the key features, requirements and deadlines to work towards for members hoping to become signatories.
Stanley explored applying the Stewardship Code to real estate, some of the differences between equity and fixed income, the framework which Aviva Investors applied, and the key risks to consider.
Our thanks to our moderator and speakersfor their very interesting insight, and to our audience members for their fantastic questions.
- Moderator: Jen Sisson, Deputy Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)
- Speaker: Claudia Chapman, Head of Stewardship at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)
- Speaker: Stanley Kwong, ESG Associate Director at Aviva Investors
Materials from this event
Watch the recording here