LCP have become a signatory of the UK Stewardship Code 2020

LCP have been named by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) as a signatory of the UK Stewardship Code 2020.

To become a signatory of the Code, service providers such as LCP have to demonstrate high standards of support for stewardship through the services they provide to clients and the role they play in the investment community. Stewardship is the responsible allocation, management and oversight of capital to create long-term value for clients and beneficiaries leading to sustainable benefits for the economy, the environment and society.

LCP produced their first stewardship report this year outlining how they have taken action to make sure that the firm’s standards in this area are market leading. Key actions include:

• Supporting our clients with their stewardship and responsible investment activities
• Strengthening our service offering, including the development of a dashboard that provides portfolio-level ESG reporting for listed equity and corporate bond funds and providing climate scenario analysis that helps clients understand climate-related risks.
• Expanding our team of responsible investment specialists
• Engaging with investment managers to encourage best practice on stewardship
• Playing active roles in industry groups and helping to shape regulation in this space. This includes helping to draft the Pensions Climate Risk Industry Group guidance on climate change for UK pension scheme trustees and collaborating in the formation of the Investment Consultants Sustainability Working Group (ICSWG).

Commenting, Clay Lambiotte, Head of Investment at LCP said: “As a firm, our approach has been to build our expertise and engage with policymakers and the industry to play an active role in shaping regulation and promoting and encouraging stewardship best practice. Our goal is to help clients see that stewardship needs to underpin investment approaches and to advise them on how best to do this.”

“We are delighted to become signatories of the Code and to be recognised as upholders of high standards of stewardship. The investment rationale behind this is very clear. Laying the foundations for strong returns in the years to come starts with good stewardship today. It is clear from the list that these principles are not yet being demonstrably implemented across the whole industry to the standard that the FRC expects. This needs to change and we will continue to work on an industry wide basis to increase rates of adoption.”