NOW: Pensions listed as a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code

NOW: Pensions, the workplace pension provider for over two million people, today announces that it will be listed as a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) now has 287 signatories, representing a substantial £50.1 trillion in assets under management (AUM), marking an increase from the previous 273 signatories and £43.3 trillion AUM. The diverse range of signatories comprises 196 asset managers, 72 asset owners, and 19 service providers, reflecting the Code’s widespread adoption across the financial sector.

NOW: Pensions’ joining of the Stewardship Code comes at an important time in the scheme’s development, where it has significantly increased its focus on responsible investing on behalf of its members. The pension scheme has implemented a revised default investment strategy in which the majority of the listed equity assets are managed directly by their investment manager, Cardano. This allows stewardship of the assets that is more closely aligned to the core principles of the trustees (living wage, gender equality and sustainability), as well as delivering better outcomes for members.

The changes to NOW’s default investment strategy form part of wider changes to its proposition that will be rolled out to members in 2025, which include introducing new investment choice alongside the default option.

Joanne Segars OBE, Chair of NOW: Pensions Trustees, says: “As trustees, we recognise the central role of stewardship in contributing to member outcomes. This is particularly important when addressing long term systemic sustainability issues which will affect economic outcomes and therefore our members’ pensions. We are very pleased to become signatories of the UK stewardship code, the leading international code that demonstrates we are adhering to the highest standards of good practice for stewardship.”

Keith Guthrie, Head of Sustainability, NOW: Pensions, says: “Stewardship is about engaging with the investments we own, and with policy makers to drive better outcomes for our members in the long term. At NOW: Pensions we believe it is critical that such stewardship seeks to address long term challenges like climate change and social inequalities like gender diversity and living wages.

We seek to ensure that there is consistency between our beliefs and those of our investment manager and the third-party managers we invest with. We want to see consistent engagement by our investment managers in terms of their messages to companies, their voting on the shares we own, and escalating engagement where necessary. The UK stewardship code signatory status is an acknowledgement of the hard work by the team at NOW: Pensions and our investment manager Cardano in ensuring the highest standards are in place to drive outcomes for our members.”

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About NOW: Pensions

NOW: Pensions is an award-winning UK workplace pension provider. We look after the pension savings of millions of members on behalf of tens of thousands of employers from a wide range of industries.

We have a clear mission – to help everyone save for a more financially secure future. This means achieving the best financial outcomes for our own members, while fighting for a fair pension system to enable all pension savers to enjoy the retirement they deserve. We do this by highlighting pension inequalities and campaigning for change.

We are the UK’s third largest auto enrolment pension provider by number of members.

NOW: Pensions is proud to support the Spring PRI Initiative for nature, taking an active role to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss by 2030.

NOW: Pensions is part of the Cardano Group. Cardano Group is a market leader in providing risk and investment management services designed to make pension outcomes more stable and robust.

For more information, please contact:

NOW: Pensions

pressoffice@nowpensions.com

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