Survey release
We are launching a global campaign, in partnership with the Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI), to provide thought leadership and inform best practices on issuer and macro-system-level stewardship, as well as to develop a calculation methodology enabling desired levels of stewardship resources to be benchmarked. As part of this joint TAI/PRI project, we are collecting stewardship-resourcing data from the investment industry, via a Global Stewardship Resourcing Survey (GSRS), to gain a deeper understanding of current stewardship practices, resourcing and key stewardship costs. The data will serve as the foundation for establishing voluntary guidance on the desired level of resources that our industry should consider allocating to stewardship activities. The findings of this project will be published in a report later this year and we would be delighted to discuss them with you then.
Thank you to all who partook in this survey. The aggregated results and findings will be shared with participating organisations at a specially convened event, with further details following in due course. Do note that any data gathered will remain confidential and will not be utilised for performance evaluation or assessment.
For us, ESG is a fundamental requirement rather than an incentive-driven process—it is a ‘hygiene’ factor that must be diligently addressed. Conducting a rough estimation of the team’s time commitment and dedicated resources relative to our ambition is a valuable exercise to gauge our industry’s current standing and determine where we should aspire to be.
For us, ESG is a fundamental requirement rather than an incentive-driven process—it is a ‘hygiene’ factor that must be diligently addressed. Conducting a rough estimation of the team’s time commitment and dedicated resources relative to our ambition is a valuable exercise to gauge our industry’s current standing and determine where we should aspire to be.
Tracy Burton, Coronation Fund Managers
High quality stewardship is often cited as key to managing ESG risks, but stewardship resourcing – its foundation – gets too little attention. Please contribute to the PRI-Thinking Ahead Institute survey to help shine a light on this critical area.
Stephen Miles, WTW
Completing the survey can help setting a realistic standard on responsible stewardship, which is a really important goal. But it also helped us being more aware of the resources we are allocating to stewardship and has led us to ask ourselves if we are where we would like to be.
Nacho Hernández Valiñani, PC30
Often, companies would have a feeling on whether they are doing a lot or not much on stewardship, but unlike everything else in investment, they don’t seem to know the cost of their stewardship resources. Going through the stewardship resourcing survey will be a beneficial exercise for internal understanding while providing important data for the industry, offering a context and a starting point for action.
Roger Urwin, WTW
It was an insightful exercise that will help inform development of our stewardship strategy going forward.
Jessica Clavette, Equistone Partners Europe
In a world dominated by systemic sustainability risks, active stewardship is one of the most effective ways that investors can drive positive change. This survey will help asset managers and asset owners ensure that they have the right resources, in the right places. By completing it you are helping to ensure that our industry is fit for purpose to lead the push for something better.
James Corah, CCLA
I responded to the survey as I’m keen to understand how we compare to peers on this important subject. Completing my answers was a useful exercise in itself, as it’s made me reflect on how we could improve what we do. And the survey only took me 20 minutes to complete, which seems a pretty small investment for the value I’m looking to get back.
Noel Grant, Aviva
About the Thinking Ahead Institute
The Thinking Ahead Institute was established in January 2015 and is a global not-for-profit investment research and innovation member group made up of engaged institutional asset owners and service providers committed to changing and improving the investment industry for the benefit of the end saver. It has over 55 members around the world with combined responsibility for over US$16 trillion and is an outgrowth of WTW Investments’ Thinking Ahead Group, which was set up in 2002.
At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance organizational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximize performance.
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