Barclays Bank plc UK Retirement Fund: recommendations
This is the first year that the Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund has actively participated in our survey, and they are to be commended for their recent establishment of a dedicated website, which clearly acknowledges the importance of responsible investment and shareholder activism.
Our recommendations for further improvement would include:
RI policy, implementation and monitoring
- Specific requirement for active engagement with investee companies on ESG issues.
- Identifying specific ESG risks and opportunities for incorporation into research and investment decisions.
- Establishing clear measures to ensure fund managers' performance on ESG issues is carefully monitored and regularly assessed.
- The use of internal and/or external dedicated resources to undertake ESG engagement on behalf of the fund.
- Consideration of membership of the UN PRI, both for itself and as a screen re fund manager selection
Transparency
Given the fundamental importance of transparency to responsible investment, significantly increasing the public areas of its website, to include public disclosure of:
- The Statement of Investment Principles
- Detailed statements of RI policy, policy implementation and performance monitoring
- Full voting records and summary voting analysis
- Detailed ESG engagement initiatives and outcomes
- The Fund's annual reports, which should include a detailed section on responsible investment.
Download Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund's full scoresheet
If you are a member of this pension scheme, why not email your pension scheme to ask whether they have implemented all or any of these recommendations.
