But ShareAction, which campaigns for accountable funding, mentioned there’s a lack of transparency in how corporations are added, re-added or faraway from the code.
It comes as NatWest Group Pension Scheme and JO Hambro Capital Management are not signatories whereas 27 organisations had been added and 164 efficiently renewed their standing.
Asset homeowners, asset managers and repair suppliers can apply or reapply to turn out to be signatories by submitting stewardship experiences to the FRC.
But signatories will also be delisted as a result of high quality of their reporting, in the event that they fail to take the FRC’s suggestions into consideration or in the event that they select to not reapply.
ShareAction warned that the most recent spherical of functions to affix the Stewardship Code “demonstrates a concerning lack of rigour in holding existing signatories to account for their commitments”.
Lewis Johnston, director of coverage, mentioned: “The Stewardship Code is rightly respected around the world and has been effective in driving up standards for responsible investment in recent years.
“However, as recent public announcements and our own ShareAction research makes clear, the stewardship performance of some code signatories has been questionable at best and is difficult to reconcile with some of the code principles.
Some signatories such as Vanguard, Vontobel Asset Management and Manulife Investment Management had a low ranking in the campaign group’s report of the world’s 77 largest asset managers’ approaches to responsible investment.
Mr Johnston said the process for making decisions on whether a signatory should be delisted is “opaque”, including that the FRC’s rationale for readmission and delisting can appear “unclear and arbitrary”.
“We would like the FRC to reaffirm the high standards expected of code signatories, and to specify the grounds on which members may be delisted,” he mentioned.
“This will ensure that the code can maintain its deserved reputation as a pioneering initiative for responsible investment and ensure that it can continue to promote the highest possible standards for stewardship amongst institutional investors making investment decisions on behalf of millions of people in the UK and beyond.”
Among the brand new signatories are Phoenix Group, Canada Life, Aegeon, ISS , Ardea Asset Management and Atlas Infrastructure.
The FRC mentioned it’s happy to see continued development within the property apart from listed fairness coated by the code.
It additionally welcomed signatories’ progress in sharing their stewardship actions and outcomes, comparable to enhancing board variety at investee corporations and enhancing disclosure associated to local weather change and biodiversity.
The PA news company has contacted the FRC for remark.
