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Since 1986, it has been the pioneer and champion of good corporate governance within the UK. PIRC has a wide spectrum of clients ranging from pension funds, faith-based investors, trade unions to banks and asset managers. Its Corporate Governance Service is an authoritative and vital resource for active investors, whilst its widely-read Shareowner Voting Guidelines provide a market-wide benchmark for investors and forms part of the movement for corporate governance reform and long-term wealth creation strategies for responsible investors. For more information about PIRC or to arrange a meeting, contact Janice Hayward, or call us on 0207 247 2323.

Policymakers should bolster the role of stewardship

Further public policy intervention may be required if stewardship activity is to be properly integrated into the behaviour of investment institutions, according to contributors to a new pamphlet published by Europe’s largest independent proxy agency, PIRC.

PIRC has today published a collection of nine essays, entitled Stewardship and the Stakeholder Economy: Perspectives on the Role of Shareholder Engagement in the UK Economy. The authors are drawn from the investment community and the world of public policy, and each provides a different take on the role of shareholders.

Contributors include –

• Chris Leslie MP and Chuka Ummuna MP
• The Association of British Insurers
• Rafael Behr, the New Statesman
• Stephen Beer, Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church
• Janet Williamson, TUC
• Phineas Glover, The Co-operative Asset Management
• BlackRock
• Harlan Zimmerman, Cevian Capital

Writing in the introduction, Alan MacDougall, managing director of PIRC, said: “This is an area where carefully calibrated public policy intervention could play a useful role. It is notable that a number of contributors believe that further intervention may be necessary if the stewardship function is to be properly embedded in the behaviour of investing institutions. If long-term investors are to be able to play a positive role in the economy perhaps the playing field needs to be tilted slightly in their favour.”

The publication is being launched at a PIRC seminar in London today on the impact of the Stewardship Code after one year.

Alan MacDougall said: “There is a clear consensus that strengthening the stewardship role of long-term investors should pay dividends for companies, their owners and the economy. But there remain practical obstacles embedding the change sought by the Stewardship Code. By publishing these essays we hope to tease out potential problem areas, and highlight the options for well-crafted public policy intervention.”

The pamphlet can be downloaded as a PDF here:

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