Stewardship Benchmarking Project

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The Financial Reporting Council sets the UK Corporate Governance and UK Stewardship Codes; sets UK standards for accounting and actuarial work; monitors and takes action to promote the quality of corporate reporting; and operates independent enforcement arrangements for accountants and actuaries. The UK Stewardship Code is a voluntary code for asset managers (investment managers), asset owners and service providers (such as proxy advisers, investment consultants and data providers). The Stewardship Code promotes the responsible allocation, management and oversight of capital to create long-term value for clients and beneficiaries leading to sustainable benefits for the economy, the environment and society. In October 2019 the FRC published the UK Stewardship Code 2020 (hereafter 'the Code'), a substantially updated version of the previous Stewardship Code, which was first published in 2010. The new Code took effect on 1 January 2020 and sets higher expectations for organisations to practice and demonstrate effective stewardship. It now contains twelve Principles for asset managers and asset owners and six for service providers. The Code has a greater emphasis on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and covers asset classes beyond UK listed equities. The FRC has also introduced a new reporting process to improve the quality of information disclosed about organisations' stewardship practice. From March 2021, organisations applying to become signatories to the Code will be required to submit an annual stewardship report to the FRC. In this report signatories will explain how they have applied the Code over a 12-month period, detailing their stewardship activities and the outcomes that resulted. The FRC will assess whether Reports have met the reporting expectations of the Code. Organisations meeting the requirements will then be accepted as Code signatories. The FRC will publish the first list of signatories in summer 2021. Purpose and Scope The purpose of this research project is: 1) to help the FRC better understand the current stewardship practices of asset managers and asset owners in areas covered by the Code 2) to gain insight into what early changes have taken place, or are underway, in response to the introduction of the Code The research will survey Asset Managers (AMs) and Asset Owners (AOs) to address five categories of topics: - A. Governance and organisation of stewardship at AMs and AOs B. Resourcing of stewardship C. Asset class and geographical coverage D. Changes in activities and process E. Stewardship data collection

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