London, 23 February 2015 – ICSA is pleased to announce that it has joined a steering group that has been put together to undertake a survey to find out to what extent the Stewardship Code has begun to have an impact on company and investor engagement.
The 2020 Stewardship Working Party, which comprises 5 institutional investors (Aviva Investors, BlackRock, GO Investment Partners, RPMI Railpen, USS) and Tomorrow’s Company, aims to assess the progress made on investor stewardship from the companies’ point of view. To do this, a working partnership has been formed with ICSA, NAPF, The Investment Association, the Investor Relations Society and the Quoted Companies Alliance. The work of the associated steering group is supported by the FRC.
The survey, which has been sent to 1,000 company representatives, will be used to find out to what extent the Stewardship Code has improved engagement for companies and what was their overall experience from their engagement with asset owners and asset managers.
The survey findings, which will be supplemented by further qualitative discussion based on the survey, are expected to be completed by June 2015. The results will be published at that time and are expected to provide an updated assessment by public companies of the health of investor stewardship.
David Styles, Director of Corporate Governance at the Financial Reporting Council commented, ‘Better quality of engagement assists in delivering improved company performance and returns to investors. As reported in our “Developments in Corporate Governance and Stewardship 2014’’ report, we continue to see signs of better engagement with large companies by investment managers. But more needs to be done to ensure that those who sign up to the code commit to its principles. This is why we support the survey which will help us discover more from companies about their experience of engagement, and what best practice looks like’.
Peter Swabey, Policy & Research Director at ICSA added, ‘ICSA is keen to promote active engagement between issuers and their shareholders as not only is this best practice, it is also the only way that shareholders can truly maximise their shareholder rights. ICSA has long supported the principles underpinning the Stewardship Code, having contributed to the FRC consultation on the original code and led the publication of Enhancing Stewardship Dialogue in 2013.’
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For further information, please contact Maria Brookes, Media Relations Manager:
mbrookes@icsa.org.uk
+44 (0)20 7612 7072
+44 (0)7890 649 143
Notes to Editors:
- ICSA (Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators) is the chartered membership and qualifying body for professionals working in governance, risk and compliance, including company secretaries. Our members work in all sectors and at every level of seniority. With over 120 years of experience, we champion high governance standards by providing qualifications, training, high-quality guidance and support (including technical resources, publications and software), and through our work with regulators and policy makers.
Website: www.icsa.org.uk
