Leading firms in the institutional investor community have joined forces with Tomorrow’s Company to launch a working party which aims to improve the quality of engagement by institutional investors with UK companies. The practitioner-led group aims to identify engagement styles and practices that seem to be most effective and to share that intelligence with the aim of making engagement more rewarding for investors and companies alike. The group also intends to make a significant contribution to the 2012 revision of the Stewardship Code which the Financial Reporting Council is proposing will take effect from 1st October 2012. The group includes some of the world’s largest and most active investors – Aviva Investors, BlackRock, Governance for Owners, Railpen Investments, Ram Trust and USS.

On Wednesday 9 November 2011, Paul Abberley, chief executive of Aviva Investors, joined CIMA and Tomorrow’s Company at their annual parliamentary reception at the House of Lords. 

‘Learning from nature – the new agenda for business success: a Tomorrow’s Natural Business Conference’ This event will focus on how businesses can succeed in an increasingly challenging climate.  Businesses will learn from the resilience and sustainability of nature to survive unpredictability.  The day promises to be inspirational and exciting with keynote addresses, high quality panels and practical workshops.

In 2002 Mark Goyder wrote "Lessons from Enron". It was a story about the culture of fear and greed at the top of the company, and how Enron's non-execs, who were there to hold them to account, failed to restrain it.  In this article Mark looks at the similarities between Enron's corporate culture and that of News Corp, in the light of recent events. He asks what lessons can be learned from these failings and spells out the need for a greater measure of stewardship throughout the investment chain.  

So the summer of stewardship is under way. We have launched our new report ‘Why Stewardship Matters’ which shows how the ordinary person can start to insist on stewardship from the people who supply financial services.