The relationship between a pension fund and the companies it invests in, and engages with, is an effective way to coordinate and manage the scheme’s objectives be that by seeking alignment on climate change objectives or to influence other policies which create a risk to the scheme’s investment and clash with their fundamental beliefs.
The challenge of productive stewardship is engaging successfully with investment consultants, asset managers, trustees, CIOs and scheme managers, in a highly fragmented pension sector.
This discussion covered voting and escalation policy among other topics, and considered what impact stewardship will have if more asset owners and fund managers support Paris-Aligned climate resolutions.
We were joined by a panel of experts including Colin Baines, Stewardship Manager at Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, an LGPS pool managing £40bn of investments, and Tegs Harding a professional trustee with Independent Governance Group. Colin and Tegs brought their perspective as asset owners on best practice, as well as outlining some of the challenges. We were also joined by Bruce Duguid, Head of Stewardship, EOS at Federated Hermes Ltd, a specialist provider of stewardship services to pension schemes, and Paul Lee, Head of Stewardship at consultants Redington.
Following the panel discussion, attendees moved into breakout rooms of mixed stakeholders, led by some of our Community Partners, including WHEB, LCP, Nephila and AXA IM. We then returned to the main room to share insights.
Who was this event for?
This event was open to all our members. If your organisation is not yet a member of Pensions for Purpose you are able to attend an event before deciding whether to join, so please register for future events.
Speakers biographies
Bruce Duguid, Head of Stewardship, EOS at Federated Hermes
Bruce is Head of Stewardship at EOS Hermes. As well as overseeing the team of engagement professionals, Bruce leads engagements with environmentally-exposed companies across the oil and gas, mining, and utilities sectors. Bruce is particularly focused on engagement on climate change, contributing to CA100+ engagement as a member of the IIGCC Board and IIGCC’s Corporate Programme Advisory Committee. Prior to joining EOS Hermes, he was Head of Sustainability at the UK Green Investment Bank, where he spent four years working on the project to establish the bank. This followed a variety of corporate strategy roles, including a management consultant position at the Boston Consulting Group.
Paul Lee, Head of Stewardship, Redington
Paul is Head of Stewardship and Sustainable Investment Strategy at Redington, the investment consultant, responsible for the delivery of stewardship and sustainability services to pension funds and other asset owners.
Paul has spent over 20 years delivering ESG and stewardship work. Firstly, at Hermes for a decade where he helped create and build its world-leading Equity Ownership Services (EOS) business, and. after a brief spell as Head of Investment Affairs at the National Association of Pension Funds (now the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association or PLSA), he joined Aberdeen Asset Management as its first global Head of Governance and Stewardship. Between then and joining Redington, he has held various consulting roles. Paul was a member of the secretariat for the Brydon Review into the Quality and Effectiveness of Audit.
Paul is also one of three investor members of the UK Endorsement Board, charged with deciding on the adoption of IFRS accounting standards for application in the UK, and chairs the UKEB’s Investor Advisory Group. He is a member of the steering committee of the Taskforce on Social Factors and was a working group member for the Financial Markets Law Committee’s review of fiduciary duty.
Tegs Harding, Head of Sustainability, Independent Governance Group
Tegs is an established professional trustee and Head of Sustainability at Independent Governance Group. She brings extensive experience in overseeing pension schemes across various sectors, encompassing DC master trusts, direct benefit (DB) and hybrid schemes. As a qualified actuary, her expertise extends to profound insights into pension finance, risk management and regulatory landscapes.
Colin Baines, Stewardship Manager, Border to Coast Pensions Partnership
Colin is the Stewardship Manager at Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, the largest pooled local government pension scheme in the UK, representing 11 partner funds with combined assets totalling £60bn.
Colin has over 20 years’ experience working across a broad range of RI, ESG, and stewardship via the Co-op Bank, Co-op Asset Management, and Friends Provident Foundation.
His engagement successes include securing the world’s first just transition strategies from several UK energy utilities, net zero policy including fossil fuel finance phase-out from UK banks and pioneering stranded asset risk with oil major engagement on tar sands.
He is a Visting Senior Fellow at the LSE Grantham Research Institute, has sat on several government, industry, and university advisory groups, and is an Impact and Investment Committee member and former NED at Snowball Impact Management.
Breakout room hosts
Seb Beloe, Partner, Head of Research, WHEB Asset Management
Seb has spent nearly 30 years working at the nexus of business, investment, and sustainability. Since 2012 he has been a partner and head of research at WHEB Asset Management where he is a member of the senior management and impact investment teams.
Prior to WHEB, Seb was head of SRI Research at Henderson Global Investors. Seb also spent ten years in senior roles in both the UK and US at SustainAbility, a leading think-tank and consultancy.
Seb has contributed to the development of industry standards and regulations through participation in several expert and advisory committees including with the BSi, the GIIN, with the Financial Conduct Authority and with groups like the Future-Fit Foundation and the Big Exchange. He has two degrees in environmental science and environmental technology from the University of East Anglia and Imperial College London and is a Chartered Environmentalist.
Maria Rapin, CEO, Nephila
Maria is CEO of Nephila’s Climate strategy, which provides risk transfer solutions aiming to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable economy. Maria has built her career at the intersection of financial and insurance markets and, with this experience, brings a passion for building the risk transfer market for the climate and sustainability industry. Maria joined Nephila in 2015 to work across the business’ catastrophe and climate strategies, with a focus on raising and retaining capital from global institutional investors, as well as other strategic projects for the Firm. After successfully leading capital raising efforts and identifying a strategy for expansion, she was asked to lead Nephila’s Climate strategy to broaden the mandate of the business beyond parametric weather products.
She began her career in finance at Swiss Re Capital Markets, working in New York and London on structuring and trading catastrophe bond portfolios. Immediately prior to joining Nephila, she was at SCOR Investment Partners in Paris as a portfolio manager of insurance-linked investments. Maria has a BBA in International Business/Information Systems from The George Washington University. She serves as a Board member for the Kentucky YMCA Youth Association.
Rachel Bussell (née Basarab-Horwath), Head of UK Institutional Sales, AXA IM
Rachel Bussell is responsible for leading AXA’s work with UK institutional investors including pension schemes, corporates and professional trustee relationships in supporting them to meet their objectives. Rachel also leads the AXA Global Pension Group to ensure they are leveragingtheir global experiences to enhance AXA support to pension funds in each local region. Rachel joined AXA IM from Mercer where she worked as a Sales Director and a Senior Investment Consultant. Rachel’s previous roles include, Director of EMEA Client Services for the Cash Business at State Street Global Advisors and Director of Global Accounts at BlueBay Asset Management.
Rachel holds an MSc in Actuarial Science from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass University) and bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Sheffield.
Host
Richard Giles, Senior Director and Community Lead, Pensions for Purpose
Richard is a Senior Director at Pensions for Purpose and responsible for working with our Community Partners, setting our strategic themes and hosting events for all the members of our network.
Richard has over 30 years’ experience of working in the pension industry as an adviser, senior executive, board member and trustee. He has a portfolio of board roles in finance, education and culminating in looking after the planet.
Pensions for Purpose
Pensions for Purpose exists as a bridge between asset managers, pension funds and their professional advisers, to encourage the flow of capital towards impact investment. Our aim is to empower pension funds to seek positive impact opportunities and mitigate negative impact risks.
Our Community allows members to learn from leaders in the impact investment industry. We provide a trusted environment to interact, collaborate and share knowledge. Members engage in a programme of activity to shape their strategy in ESG, sustainable and impact investments.
Pensions for Purpose exists as a bridge between asset managers, pension funds and their professional advisers, to encourage the flow of capital towards impact investment. Our aim is to empower pension funds to seek positive impact opportunities and mitigate negative impact risks. For membership information, please email our Membership Manager.
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