Brunel develops Accord for long-term manager relationships

Brunel Pension Partnership, the £30 billion LGPS asset pool, has launched an Asset Management Accord, which it intends to facilitate long-term relationships with its appointed managers.

Brunel PP chief investment officer, Mark Mansley, commented: “The idea is that by putting this document together, we can address managers’ key concerns and help managers to understand what matters to us. It’s a proactive approach intended to equip managers to work with us more collaboratively and focus our dialogue with managers on the really important issues.” The Accord builds on the experiences of Mansley and Brunel’s chief responsible investment officer, Faith Ward, at the Environment Agency Pension Fund.

In the Accord, the authors explain the importance of, and benefits from, issues such as being long-term, communication, thought leadership and innovation. Faith Ward commented: “We hope that by spelling out our expectations, asset managers will feel safer and do better. We believe that this documented approach is ground-breaking within the investment industry but hope that others will follow our lead. In the long term, more co-operative and transparent relationships will have better results for us all.”