IFP member firms in top six most transparent asset managers
Three IFP member firms have been named among the top six best performing asset managers in terms of transparency and responsible investment in an independent report, which has criticised failings among many leading firms.
Aviva Investors, part of IFP corporate member Aviva, was named second best by investment sector watchdog ShareAction in its latest study on stewardship and responsible investment.
Legal & General Investment Management, a gold IFP member, was fifth in the list of 33. IFP corporate member Standard Life's firm Standard Life Investments was sixth.
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The best ranked firm was Threadneedle Asset Management, with Jupiter Asset Management third and Hermes Investment Management fourth.
The worst performing firms were UBS Global Asset Management, M&G Investment Management , Santander Asset Management, J O Hambro Capital Management and Wellington Management.
Other IFP corporate members listed included Henderson Global Investors, which was ranked 13, and Fidelity's firm Fidelity Worldwide Investments, placed 23.
ShareAction reported: "All of the managers surveyed publicly commit to active oversight of the firms in their portfolios, having signed up to the UK Stewardship Code, first published in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis. 31 of 33 have also signed the Principles for Responsible Investment.
"In practice, ShareAction finds a vast gulf in performance between the industry's leaders and laggards on a skill-set that is critical to outcomes for the UK's swelling ranks of pension savers."
ShareAction chief executive Catherine Howarth said: "Our survey blows the cover on a wide range of big names in asset management who still refuse to be transparent about how they invest clients' money.
"The leading firms show a commitment to acting in clients' best interest that we applaud. Trustees of pension schemes should pay close attention to these results, and encourage take up of the individual recommendations made to each firm in this survey."
Report author Stefano Galdiolo said: "In our most comprehensive survey to date, we show that a hard core of major investment firms still refuses to disclose basic information about how they vote on clients' behalf at company AGMs. Similarly, there are still some dinosaurs in the sector who consider it beneath them to disclose a conflicts of interest policy.
"We hope the regulators address this problem as a matter of urgency and that such firms will be embracing more fully and genuinely responsible investment practices as the failure to do so will no doubt result in significant commercial disadvantages to them for showing such scant regard for clients' interests."
Mark Burgess, chief investment officer at Threadneedle Investments, which topped the ratings, said: "Being a responsible investor is integral to Threadneedle's business proposition and we are delighted with ShareAction's recognition of this. Our move from seven to number one reflects our active leadership in this area in the UK."