On the go: The Asset Management Exchange and asset manager DWS have created an investment solution that allows pension schemes to express their stewardship preferences in pooled funds.
The new pooled fund service, developed in partnership with Minerva Analytics and Northern Trust, aggregates investor stewardship preferences and seeks to execute votes in alignment with their expressions of wish.
Where aggregate investor preferences conflict within a pooled fund, voting instructions can be split accordingly, a statement read.
Historically, asset owners relied on their investment manager to execute a voting policy for the pooled fund. However, when investor preferences have diverged from the manager’s policy, investors have been forced to accept the votes placed by the manager, AMX and DWS stated.
This new service follows the recent launch of a new working group by the Department for Work and Pensions to examine ways to give investors in pooled fund products greater influence in voting shares and securities owned on their behalf.
According to Guy Opperman, minister for pensions and financial inclusion, the new service “will tackle head-on the industry practice of ‘invest in my fund, accept my voting policy’”.
“I strongly hope this prompts other pension scheme trustees to challenge their fund managers about plans to offer this service, and drives engagement with other key issues such as how their managers are engaging and voting on pressing issues such as climate change,” he said.
Established by Willis Towers Watson in 2017, AMX is an institutional platform that gives investors and asset managers a way to do business with each other.
