An experienced investor, Simon Fraser was formerly Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Worldwide Investment. He is currently Chairman of Foreign Colonial Investment Trust plc. and a Non-Executive Director of Ashmore Group plc. Simon is also a former Non-Executive Director of Barclays PLC.
Andy Griffiths has twenty years’ experience as a top rated Research Analyst and investment professional at Capital Group, where he had specific responsibilities for investments in European banks and international equities. Andy has strong relationships with the CEOs and management teams of the largest banks in the UK, Europe and Asia. He is currently a Senior Advisor to Corsair Capital.
The Investor Forum is being formed following the recommendations of the Collective Engagement Working Group (a group established by the ABI, IMA and NAPF) and the Kay Review, it is an investor-led organisation, whose governance is independent of any trade association. Its participants will be asset managers and asset owners such as pension funds, life assurers and sovereign wealth funds. The Forum will be open to all investors who have an interest in UK companies, whether based in the UK or overseas.
The Chairman and Executive Director will now finalise the constitution and operating model, and assemble the Forum’s Board and stakeholder groups. It is expected that the Investor Forum will hold its first meetings in September.
The purposes of the Investor Forum are to improve long-term returns from investment in companies by:
1. Promoting the value of long-term approaches to investment to match the long-term objectives of the individual savers who are ultimately the beneficiaries of the long-term returns delivered by investment management.
2. Promoting cultural change throughout the investment chain – encompassing asset owners and their advisers, as well as asset managers and investee companies.
3. Forming Engagement Groups to drive constructive change when there is a critical mass of support among Forum participants that a company is failing in some way that might compromise long-term returns.
Simon Fraser, Chairman of the Investor Forum, said:
"In order to restore trust in the value of markets and their role in the economy, it is imperative that all investors take a long-term interest in the strategic direction of the companies they invest in. The Investor Forum will help facilitate better engagement between UK public companies and their shareholders to support long-term value creation opportunities."
Andy Griffiths, Executive Director of the Investor Forum, said:
“I am delighted to have this opportunity to work with Simon, the Forum’s members and the UK’s leading companies.
"Our guiding principles will be rooted in value creation for investors and the pursuit of solutions which will ensure that the UK is a welcome home for many of the world’s most dynamic enterprises.”
Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, said:
“I am delighted that, three years after I asked Professor John Kay to lead an investigation into ‘short-termism’ in financial markets, his recommendation of an Investors’ Forum has been implemented. This is a welcome step towards more effective collective engagement by investors in UK companies. I hope that this new body will help bring about a shift in the culture of equity markets so they can support UK public companies to invest for the long term. The new Chair and Executive Director now need to focus on harnessing the widespread support for this initiative, from investors and companies, to make the Forum operational without delay.”
John Kay, Author of the Kay Review, said:
“The Investor Forum was central to the recommendations of the Review and I am delighted to see it become reality. Asset managers working together can make a real contribution to improving the performance of British business.”
Sacha Sadan, Chairman of the Investor Forum Implementation Team and Director of Corporate Governance at Legal General Investment Management, said:
“I am delighted to see the Investor Forum being established. The enthusiasm of the investor community to see better long term collective engagement has been very encouraging. I particularly want to thank the implementation team for all of their hard work and we look forward to contributing to the Forum’s success.”
Joanne Segars, Chief Executive of NAPF, said:
"The formation of the Investor Forum has the potential to be an important development in further facilitating effective collective engagement amongst an increasingly global pool of institutional investors. This vehicle for greater collaboration should further assist the focus on developing sustainable long-term value creation for asset owners and, in turn, pension savers."
Daniel Godfrey, Chief Executive of the IMA, said:
“The launch of the Investor Forum is a key step in the establishment of a long term culture throughout the turntable of capital that converts ordinary people’s savings into the capital that supports companies, drives economic growth and delivers the returns that savers need to secure their financial wellbeing.”
Otto Thoresen, Director General of ABI, said:
“It is of critical importance that UK companies have effective engagement with their shareholders that fosters a long-term approach to investment, which is necessary to maintain a healthy UK economy. The Investor Forum can play an important part and will benefit from the merger of the ABI’s investment affairs arm with the IMA. The merger has strengthened the voice of the investment management industry, creating one organisation which can represent their views effectively.”
Glen Moreno, Chairman of Pearson plc, said:
"Constructive engagement between investors and company boards is central to our governance and stewardship system. I believe the Investor Forum can play a major role in this process."
Robert Swannell, Chairman of Marks Spencer plc, said:
“It’s vital for the effective functioning of equity markets that investors are able to assess properly the companies they invest in and engage them in constructive debate and challenge. The creation of the Investor Forum is a really positive step forward in this process. Particularly encouraging is the focus of the Investor Forum on promoting long-term thinking in the creation of value, as recommended by the Kay Review."
Sir David Walker, Chairman of Barclays PLC, said:
“For a well-functioning capitalist system, effective stewardship by asset owners and their fund managers is a critical complement to effective corporate governance. The Investor Forum should greatly facilitate effective communication between the two sides, generating a whole in terms of outcomes that is bigger than the sum of the parts, benefiting both companies and their owners, on a sustainable basis.”