Putting resources where stewardship ambitions are

The Thinking Ahead Institute (TAI) has been commissioned by the United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to research and assess the appropriate level of resources that institutional investors should be prepared to dedicate to stewardship within their organisations.

The joint TAI/PRI project looked at institutional investors globally to deepen understanding of current stewardship practices and resourcing requirements through a series of following actions:

The Stewardship Resourcing Technical Working Group was created to understand existing stewardship resourcing practices and inform project activities
Stewardship-resourcing data was collected from the investment industry, via a Global Stewardship Resourcing Survey (GSRS)
A series of 1-2-1 interviews were conducted with key industry practitioners to gain better understanding of existing requirements, challenges and future outlook.

The main conclusions of the project are:

A more structured approach to measurement of stewardship resources is needed
Stewardship resources need to double over time at the industry level
We present a new industry tool, Stewardship Resources Assessment Framework, that can empower all investment organisations to assess their stewardship resources.

The collected data in the Global Stewardship Resourcing Survey served as the foundation for establishing voluntary guidance, The Stewardship Resources Assessment Framework, as a practical tool to support the industry in achieving a more structured measurement approach in stewardship.

Stewardship needs to become more joined-up through industry working groups and increased focus on activities seeking to address systemic risk. A complementary work done by TAI as part of the stewardship resourcing project can be found following the link below.

Putting resources where stewardship ambitions are

Stewardship resources in focus: structured measurement to empower asset owner - asset manager conversations

Further reading