Search Scaling-up Sustainable Finance: The Role of Pension Trustees

The Synthesis Report presented to G20 last December by Sustainable Finance Study Group has highlighted the role of regulatory oversight in Scaling up Sustainable Finance. Surveys carried out in the Financial Sector indicate that regulation is one of the key factors that motivates Financial Institutions to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues to their financial portfolios. Yet, with over 1500 separate pieces of recommendations and policies on the Climate Change alone, the speed of the implementation varies across the Sector and it’s not unusual to hear controversies.

Considering the level of the collective assets under management of Pension Funds any changes to Pension Trustees Duties are in a great deal of focus ….or are they?

Introduced on 1st October 2019 changes oblige Pension Trustees to consider financially material ESG issues while assessing risk-adjusted returns. Further changes are expected in 2020 and 2021.

But are Trustees prepared to comply with this these changes to the regulations? How about Asset Managers? What might be the potential impact of the changes on the Sector? Is there a ’symmetry’ in the requirements for Pension Trustees and Asset Managers? What about pension schemes that are run by FCA regulated entities? What steps has the FCA taken in this space? Will the changes have any impact on the strategies of Asset Managers and indeed the wider investment industry?

We will be debating these and other questions with our esteemed panel of speakers:

Rebecca McKay - Partner – Trowers & Hamilns

John Reynolds – Member-elected Trustee Director – FCA Pension Plan Trustee and Pension Technical Specialist –Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Alison Bostock – Director – PTL- Independent Trustees

Michael Lewis - Managing Director, Head of Thematic Research – DWS (formerly known as Deutsche Asset Management)

Moderated by Dana Hanby – MD, ESG Nexus