Stewardship and Corporate Governance Forum 2023

Group discount: use the promotional code GROUP for 20% discount on bookings of five or more people.

The expectations on investment managers to demonstrate how they are delivering stewardship increases from clients, regulators and wider society.

This year’s Stewardship and Corporate Governance Forum will bring together a range of stakeholders to explore the possibilities for improving stewardship and building a more sustainable future, while nurturing the UK’s listing ecosystem. It will consider the ever-greater importance of supporting the needs of wider stakeholders and social issues to deliver long-term value creation as the economy recovers from the pandemic and deals with the cost-of-living crisis. The event will also explore how the relationship between asset owners and investment managers can be improved to deliver better stewardship outcomes for clients.

09:00-09:30 Registration, Refreshments and Networking

09:30-09:35 Welcome

Andrew Ninian, Director, Stewardship and Corporate Governance, The Investment Association

09:35-10:05 Update from the Financial Reporting Council

Claudia Chapman, Head of Stewardship, Financial Reporting Council (FRC)

10:05-10:50 Creating A Listing Regime That Works for Companies, Investors and Savers
The regulatory landscape for both issuers and investors is undergoing significant change. Efforts to revitalise the UK Listings environment are focused on making the UK more attractive for high growth companies to list. Concurrently, reforms designed to improve corporate governance of UK firms place a greater number of requirements and expectations on listed companies, increasing the burdens they face. There is also a growing demand for asset managers and asset owners to demonstrate their approach to responsible investment and stewardship, from regulators, clients and wider society.

The panel will explore where the reforms have got to, how we balance the competing demands of reform and what more needs to be done to create a competitive listing environment which has sufficient investor protections for savers and allows asset owners and managers to discharge their stewardship and responsible investment responsibilities.

Moderator: Andrew Ninian, Director, Stewardship and Corporate Governance, The Investment Association

• Mark Austin, Partner, Corporate and M&A, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
• Michael Carter, Head of Platform Lending and Investment, Innovate Finance
• Piers Hillier, Chief Investment Officer, Royal London Asset Management
• Julia Hoggett, Chief Executive Officer, London Stock Exchange
• Kimberley Lewis, Head of Active Ownership, Schroders 

10:50-11:20 What does effective stewardship look like in 2023 for UK managers following the UK Consumer Duty and SDR proposals?
The UK regulatory landscape applicable to asset managers is changing quite rapidly with significant reforms due to take effect over the next few years - including the UK SDR regime, new Consumer Duty and the proposals set out in the Edinburgh Reforms. In this session Raza Naeem (Partner) from Linklaters will discuss the practical implications of these regulatory changes for UK managers in their stewardship approach.

Raza Naeem, Partner, Linklaters LLP

11:20-11:50 Networking Break

11:50-12:35 Managing Companies and Stakeholders Through the Cost-of-Living Crisis
Companies continue to respond to the impact of the pandemic and the growing expectations of society and investors on their sustainability practices. They must now respond to a Cost-of-Living crisis, where market conditions are characterised by high inflationary pressures which are impacting on both the company and their wider stakeholders.

This panel will discuss the perceived tensions between corporates and investors on the vast range of issues that they are under pressure to address and the competing interests of a multitude of stakeholder groups. It will also consider how investor can support Board’s to effectively manage these tensions and communicate how they are doing so effectively to their shareholders.

Moderator: Andrew Ninian, Director, Stewardship and Corporate Governance, The Investment Association

• Dr Tom Gosling, Executive Fellow, London Business School
• Yo Takatsuki, Executive Director, Sustainable Investing - Global Head of Investment Stewardship, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
• Janet Williamson, Senior Policy Officer, Rights, International, Social and Economics, Trades Union Congress
• Clare Wardle, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plc

12:35-13:20 Asset Manager and Asset Owner Expectations on Stewardship and Developing a Long-Term Relationship
The relationship between asset owners and investment managers sets the tone for stewardship and how it contributes to sustainable value creation right across the investment chain. Where traditionally the roles of asset manager and asset owner regarding stewardship were clearly defined, recent market and regulatory developments have blurred these roles. In this new environment, and as set out in the joint IA/ PLSA Report on Investment Relationships for Sustainable Value Creation, greater alignment in the relationship between asset owners and managers is required to promote better stewardship outcomes. 

An important aspect of improving stewardship in this context involves how managers should take account of requests from clients to vote on certain issues in a particular way (Expression of Wish). With regulatory and market-led developments from both the DWP and the Occupational Pensions Stewardship Council (OPSC) gaining traction, this panel will discuss key developments and areas for improvement in stewardship reporting, and how investment managers can engage with their clients on their stewardship priorities in order to facilitate greater ‘client voice’ in the development of their products and services. 

Moderator: Sana Mirza-Awan, Senior Policy Adviser, The Investment Association

• Stephen Miles, Head of Equities & Head of Investment Stewardship, Willis Towers Watson
• Maria Nazarova-Doyle, Head of Pension Investments and Responsible Investments, Scottish Widows
• Chris Anker, Head of Sustainability, Redwheel
• Archie Struthers, Former Global Head of Investment Governance & Oversight, abrdn

13:20-13:25 Remarks from the Host

Patrick Thomson, CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa, J.P. Morgan Asset Management

13:25-13:30 Closing Remarks

Andrew Ninian, Director, Stewardship and Corporate Governance, The Investment Association

13:30-14:30 Networking Lunch

In order of programme appearance:

Andrew Ninian, Director, Stewardship and Corporate Governance, The Investment Association

Andrew is responsible for representing The Investment Association members interests as institutional investors on corporate governance and engagement matters. He has oversight of The Investment Association's Institutional Voting Information Service (IVIS), corporate governance policy development and company consultations or collective engagement with the companies in which Investment Association members invest. Andrew joined The Investment Association in June 2014, through merger of the Investment Affairs division of the ABI with the IMA. He joined the ABI in 2005 as a Corporate Governance Analyst and was promoted to Head of IVIS in October 2011 and Head of Corporate Governance in January 2012. Before joining the ABI, Andrew was a Socially Responsible Investment analyst at HSBC, having joined HSBC's graduate scheme in 2001 after reading Economics at the University of Bath.

Claudia Chapman, Head of Stewardship, Financial Reporting Council (FRC)

As Head of Stewardship for the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Claudia is responsible for the UK Stewardship Code, a world-leading voluntary code which sets expectations for investors when looking after their clients’ and members’ capital. Claudia led the review and update of the Code which took effect on 1 January 2020. She is currently on secondment with the FCA, working on stewardship policy in the ESG Division and with the Asset management supervision team. Claudia joined the Financial Reporting Council in 2015 to deliver a report on Corporate culture and the role of boards which led to revisions of the UK Corporate Governance Code. Prior to that Claudia spent nine years at ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in business development and policy roles, latterly, leading a campaign to raise corporate governance standards in developing markets and bringing together finance and HR to address inclusion and diversity in organisations. Claudia grew up in Jamaica, before studying Geography at Cardiff University.

Michael Carter, Head of Platform Lending and Investment, Innovate Finance

Mike Carter leads Investment Policy at Innovate Finance, the UK's trade body that represents and advances the global FinTech community in the UK. Innovate Finance publishes a bi-annual investment report on the state of venture capital investment into UK and global FinTech and was closely involved in the Kalifa review recommendations. Mike is also responsible for Platform Lending Policy at Innovate Finance and is Executive Chair of an early stage P2P lending platform. Previously he spent 25 years as in investment banker advising financial services groups on strategy, capital and M&A including a number of IPOs on the London Stock Exchange.

Piers Hillier, Chief Investment Officer, Royal London Asset Management

Piers joined Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) in January 2015 as Chief Investment Officer, with responsibility for managing and developing RLAM’s investment capabilities. He has over 30 years of investment experience. Piers is a director of RLAM, a member of the RLAM Executive Committee, and chairs the RLAM Investment Committee. Piers holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Bristol and Masters degree from the University of Oxford and is Chartered Accountant (ICAEW), Chartered Analyst (CFA UK) and a Chartered Director (IoD).

Kimberley Lewis, Head of Active Ownership, Schroders

Kimberley Lewis is responsible for our Active Ownership Strategy. Prior to joining Schroders, Kimberley was Director of North America Engagement for Federated Hermes EOS, International-- a global leading provider of proxy voting and engagement, public policy, and advisory services for asset managers and large institutional investors, representing US $1.3 trillion assets under advice. There, she led board and executive level engagements with a portfolio of companies on ESG and long-term business strategy issues across equity and fixed income holdings, including leading collaborative investor and NGO engagement initiatives and public policy work. She was the global sector lead for Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals and the global Human Capital Management thematic lead.
Prior to joining EOS, Kimberley was Senior Director of Global Corporate Responsibility at Pfizer Inc, where she was responsible for driving Pfizer's strategy for global public health and patient impact in underserved communities. This included expanding access to quality healthcare through health-related investments, disaster and humanitarian response, and driving colleague pro-bono and community engagement initiatives. She was also responsible for relationships with nongovernmental and multilateral organizations. Prior to this, she was the Director of Public Policy and Issues Management at AstraZeneca, where led the company’s work on access to medicines in underserved markets.
Before this, she was a senior advisor to Cherie Blair, where she was instrumental in establishing her charity, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women which supported female entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Kimberley has held roles in philanthropy, law and politics in the United States, including serving as counsel to a United States Senator. Kimberley is a US-qualified attorney, with a BA and JD from the University of Virginia; she also has an MA from London Business School, where she was a Sloan Fellow and Recipient of the Sloan Woman’s Scholarship. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for World Vision UK.

Mark Austin, Partner, Corporate and M&A, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Mark is a corporate partner at Freshfields, specialising in capital markets.
His experience includes public and private securities offerings of all types, as well as M&A and general corporate work across a number of sectors.
He advised Lord Hill on the UK Listing Review last year. In October last year he was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as the independent chair of the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review, which was asked to suggest reforms to the capital raising process for listed companies. He delivered the Review to the Chancellor in July 2022. He sits on the Capital Markets Industry Task Force, which was announced by the Chancellor in July 2022 and will be working with Douglas Flint as part of the Digitisation Taskforce that was set up by the Chancellor to implement one of the recommendations in his Review. In addition he chairs the Listing Authority Advisory Panel, which advises the Financial Conduct Authority on primary markets policy and regulation issues. He is also a member of the FCA's Markets Practitioner Panel, which provides independent input to the FCA from the point of view of financial market participants and of the Primary Markets Group, which advises the London Stock Exchange on capital markets matters as well as sitting on the City of London Law Society’s Company Law Committee.

Julia Hoggett, Chief Executive Officer, London Stock Exchange

Julia Hoggett joined the London Stock Exchange plc as CEO in April 2021. Previously, Julia was at the Financial Conduct Authority as Director of Market Oversight, overseeing the conduct of market participants. Prior to this, she was a Managing Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, running various fixed income origination businesses in EMEA. Julia was previously a Board Member and CEO of DEPFA ACS BANK in Ireland. She began her career at JPMorgan. Julia holds a degree in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University and undertook a research scholarship at Kings College, Cambridge University on public policy in East Africa.
Julia was included in Financial News’ 100 Most Influential Women in Europe’s Financial Markets (2010, 2011, 2012, 2021 and 2022). Julia was number 2 on the OUTstanding Top 100 list in 2022 and on its predecessor lists in 2014 and 2013 and also named in the DIVA Power List in 2022.
Julia has been an active speaker on Diversity and Inclusion in the City for two decades.

Raza Naeem, Partner, Linklaters LLP

Raza is widely regarded as a specialist in a number of financial services regimes including ESG, MiFID, Brexit, PRIIPs, AIFMD and UCITS.
Raza has also led on and contributed to a number of trade associations, industry forums and Linklaters roundtables / briefings on these topics. Raza is particularly involved in the ESG space and chairs the internal Linklaters’ global ESG working group. He also works closely with the broader Linklaters practice areas, providing regulatory coverage in areas such as derivatives, structured products, funds and employment matters.

Dr Tom Gosling, Executive Fellow, London Business School

Tom Gosling is an Executive Fellow in the Department of Finance at London Business School and an Executive Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute. In these roles he contributes to the evidence-based practice of responsible business by connecting academic research, public policy, and corporate action.
Tom has 20+ years of experience as a board adviser. He was a senior Partner at PwC where he established and led the firm’s executive pay practice, advising multinational companies on corporate governance and executive pay.

Janet Williamson, Senior Policy Officer, Rights, International, Social and Economics, Trades Union Congress

Janet is a Senior Policy Officer in the TUC's Economic and Social Affairs Department, responsible for policy on corporate governance, institutional investment, executive pay and corporate social responsibility. She's the Chair of Trade Union Share Owners, an initiative that brings together union funds to collaborate on voting and engagement at company AGMs, and a trustee of the TUC Superannuation Society. She also contributes to TUC pensions policy and campaigning.

Clare Wardle, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plc

General Counsel and Company Secretary and member of the Executive Leadership Team of Coca-Cola European Partners plc since June 2016, now Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, leading risk, compliance, security and legal teams across 29 countries.  Previously General Counsel and Company Secretary of Kingfisher plc, Commercial Director of Tube Lines plc, Head of Legal at Post Office.  Currently NED at The City of London Investment Trust plc and Modern Pentathlon Great Britain, previous board memberships include Basketball England (chair), encryption and digital signatures, sheltered housing and retail.

Yo Takatsuki, Executive Director, Sustainable Investing - Global Head of Investment Stewardship, J.P. Morgan Asset Management

Yo Takatsuki is the Global Head of Investment Stewardship at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Yo is responsible for leading a team of specialists in New York, London. Hong Kong and Tokyo which engages with investee companies on key ESG issues such as climate change, human capital management and corporate governance. He is also responsible for advising analysts and portfolio managers regarding the E, S and G profiles of the companies in which we invest and co-ordinating proxy voting activity. He is also prominent in industry groups and is currently the co-chair of IIGCC’s Net Zero Stewardship Working Group. He has led other collaborative groups in the past including on topics such as Climate Transition Finance, Access to Medicine, and Impact Investment in Listed Markets.

Yo has more than a decade of experience as a Sustainable Investing and Stewardship specialist. Prior to joining the firm in February 2021, Yo was the Head of ESG Research and Active Ownership at AXA Investment Managers and was also at BMO Global Asset Management for seven years where he headed up the engagement service for third-party clients. He also spent decade as a business journalist in broadcast at the BBC, Bloomberg and CNBC. He has a MBA from City, University of London’s Business School and an Bachelor’s degree from the University of Cambridge. He speaks English and Japanese.

Chris Anker, Head of Sustainability, Redwheel

Chris joined Redwheel in 2021, taking up the new role of Head of Sustainability. His team is responsible for leading and coordinating sustainability activities at the firm, both within investments and at a corporate level. Prior to this, he held roles at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, RPMI Railpen and at the Church of England. He has over a decade of experience in the fields of responsible investment, corporate governance, stewardship, and sustainable ownership. His first career was in intellectual property law.

Stephen Miles, Head of Equities & Head of Investment Stewardship, Willis Towers Watson

Stephen is Head of Equities and Investment Stewardship at WTW. Previously Stephen had roles leading sustainable investment, quantitative equity research and as regional head of research working across three key investment research teams: Manager Research, Asset Research and the Thinking Ahead Group. Stephen has also served on the Investment Executive Committee. Stephen designed many elements of the manager research process in place today and has experience working with asset owners around the world advising on their equity investments and approach to sustainable investment. Stephen is a member of PRI Stewardship Advisory Committee; the Investment Consultants Sustainability Working Group stewardship team; and the IIGCC Net Zero Stewardship Working Group. He also chairs the Client Advisory Board for EOS at Federated Hermes. Stephen graduated in 1999 from the University of Nottingham with an BA (Hons) First Class in Industrial Economics and is a CFA Charterholder.

Maria Nazarova-Doyle, Head of Pension Investments and Responsible Investments, Scottish Widows

Maria joined Scottish Widows at the start of 2020 to lead the customer investment proposition for the Pensions business. Maria is also leading the work on incorporating responsible investment and active stewardship principles into Scottish Widows’ investment design and is the spokesperson on investment matters.
Maria joined Scottish Widows from Mercer, where she had a role of Market Engagement Leader in their DC & Individual Wealth business, which she took up following the acquisition of JLT Group by Marsh & McLennan in April 2019.
For 6 years leading up to that, she had been Head of JLT’s DC Investment Consulting team, where she was tasked with enhancing JLT’s DC proposition through market leading research, development and advice for a wide variety of DC pension arrangements. Maria combined her thought leadership and proposition development role with her client facing role, advising a diverse portfolio of DC clients.
Maria joined JLT in early 2013 from Capita Employee Benefits, where she was mainly focussed on DC advice, although prior to that her background had been predominantly in Private Equity.
She holds an MSc in Strategic Planning and Investment from Newcastle University Business School and is a CFA charterholder. She is a member of the UKSIF Board and its Policy Committee, PMI Advisory Council, PMI Policy Board, ABI Climate Change and Stewardship Working Groups, Occupational Pensions Stewardship Council and a number of government-led taskforces. Maria is also a regular speaker at pension and sustainable finance industry events and a professional awards judge.

Archie Struthers, Former Global Head of Investment Governance & Oversight, abrdn

Archie most recently worked for Abrdn, having joined Standard Life Investments in January 2017 as Head of Investments, latterly becoming Global Head of Investment Governance and Oversight. In this role he led Abrdn’s central investment teams with overall responsibility for investment oversight and the first line investment governance framework, as well as the critical investment enablers such as investment execution and the investment platform. A key aspect of this central function was the maintenance of a robust investment governance framework overseen by the Risk and Exposures Committee (REC) and rigorous investment process oversight, formally reviewed by the Performance and Investment Review Committee (PIRC), both of which he Chaired. In addition, Archie also led the Responsible Investing and Stewardship investment teams and Abrdn’s Enabling ESG initiatives as the firm focused on embedding sustainability across the firm.
Archie has over 27 years of experience in the industry. Before joining the firm, Archie was the Global Head of Investment Solutions at Aberdeen Asset Management, where he was responsible for managing the multi-asset solutions business globally. Prior to this Archie was the Managing Director of Investment Solutions and Head of the Wealth Investment Office at Lloyds Banking Group. Previously he was Global Chief Operating Officer of Multi-Asset Client Solutions at Blackrock where he was responsible for creating, building and growing their global multi-asset and solutions business. Prior to this he was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, latterly head of portable alpha and previously head of US Managed Accounts. He started his career as an equity fund manager at Mercury Asset Management.
Archie has acted as Co-Chair of a cross-industry initiative, on behalf of the Investment Association, alongside Richard Butcher, the previous Chair of the Pension and Life Savings Association, which has focused on how to better embed the UK Stewardship Code to improve the long-term relationship between asset owners and asset managers. The resulting report and recommendations were published in June 2022: Investment Relationships for Sustainable Value Creation.Archie served as the Deputy Chair of The Investment Association Investment Committee until the end of 2021 and has been a strong advocate for the D&I agenda, including as a panellist/speaker at Women in Banking & Finance. In 2021 Archie also led the CFA’s Ethical Leadership steering group that designed the current eponymous program. He is an Associate of UK Society of Investment Professionals and holds a MA with Honours in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh.

Patrick Thomson, CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa, J.P. Morgan Asset Management

Patrick Thomson is Chief Executive Officer for EMEA, J.P. Morgan Asset Management based in London. He is Chair of the Board of the Investment Association, representing UK’s investment management industry, and a Member of the UK Government’s Treasury Task Force. Patrick joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management in 1995 and worked in Singapore 2000-2005 as global head of sovereigns, with extensive experience in reserves management in Asia and the Middle East, and has worked with many of the largest asset owners in the world.

After graduating from Edinburgh University with an MA (Hons), Patrick served as an officer in the British Army for five years, and is co-chair of the EMEA VETS group at JP Morgan. He qualified as a member of the UK Society of Investment Professionals in 2000.

Interested in partnering with us on this event? Get in touch

PARTNER

Linklaters is a leading global law firm, supporting and investing in the future of our clients wherever they do business. We combine legal expertise with a collaborative and innovative approach to help clients navigate constantly evolving markets and regulatory environments, pursuing opportunities and managing risk worldwide.

Our 5,200 people, of which almost half are lawyers, are located across 30 offices in 20 countries. In order to offer our clients the highest quality advice, our lawyers across three divisions - Corporate, Dispute Resolution and Finance - specialise in industry sectors as well as practice areas.

KINDLY HOSTED BY