Schroders Unveils Engagement Blueprint

UK-listed asset manager Schroders has written to hundreds of companies setting out its new standards for active ownership and engagement.

The company — which manages more than £731 billion ($991 billion) globally — has overhauled its stewardship approach and laid out its plans in a new Engagement Blueprint document. The blueprint sets out standards for equity and bond fund managers and analysts.

As well as setting out its priorities for engagement with the listed companies in which it invests, Schroders said it would introduce “engagement objectives” for fund managers and analysts that will form part of their individual performance goals.

Staff can select from six core themes from the Engagement Blueprint: climate change, corporate governance, diversity and inclusion, human capital management, natural capital and biodiversity, and human rights.

The themes are underpinned by cross-cutting thematic priorities, such as business ethics, and sector-specific issues, such as antimicrobial resistance.

Kimberley Lewis, head of active ownership at Schroders, said: “Social and environmental forces are reshaping societies, economies, industries and financial markets.

“By encouraging management teams to adapt to those changes, we are able to strengthen the long-term value of those assets, enhancing outcomes for clients, and to accelerate positive change towards a fairer and sustainable global economy.”

The engagements will be monitored by Schroders’ co-head of investment and head of equities, Rory Bateman, alongside the company’s Active Ownership team.

The work will be supported by Schroders’ ImpactIQ analytics tools, which help quantify the positive and negative impacts of the allocations managers make in their portfolios.