For us, it’s a question of ‘evolution not revolution’ when it comes to building out our ESG infrastructure. The last year has been a really exciting period as we’ve made great strides towards formalising ESG considerations within our processes.
Quilter Investors was created in mid-2018 and by early 2019 we were already engaging with Jane Goodland, Quilter plc’s group head of responsible investment, for more resources.
The immediate outcome was funding for a year-long professional research project into how best to integrate ESG considerations. The process took a huge leap in early 2020 when Eimear Toomey joined as Quilter Investors’ head of responsible investment.
Since then, Eimear’s assembled a team that includes the existing engagement and voting specialist in our fund research team and two new hires: a dedicated senior ESG analyst, focused on embedding ESG practices and data integration across the business; and a full-time ESG data analyst to manage our new data feeds from Sustainalytics and Morningstar and the ESG dashboard tool we’ve created.
In March, another new ESG research analyst joins the team; they’ll be working closely with myself and the team generating ESG fund research and helping us to develop our new range of ESG solutions.
Elsewhere, we’ve also incorporated ESG responsibilities into key roles across a range of business functions including compliance, product development, due diligence, investment risk and project management, creating local ESG specialists who now collaborate closely with the responsible investment team.
We’ve done this by undertaking extensive industry training. Our entire executive committee and investment team have already completed a bespoke ESG training course while I and numerous teammates are pursuing the ESG CFA certificate.
The investment fund research team, which supports our business, already has a dedicated ESG lead but each team member is also tasked with specific ESG analysis of their recommendations.