Focus on integrity and ethics at Fiduciary Investors Symposium

Ethics and finance will top and tail the program at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium to be held at Chicago Booth School of Business, from October 18-20, highlighting the fact that as asset owners get larger and employ more staff they need to be clear on their own internal ethics and responsibilities.

One of the world’s leading thinkers and authors on ethics Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, will set the scene for the conference discussing the ethical responsibilities involved in investment decisions. He will focus on the implications for climate change and global poverty in particular, helping to frame what it means to be a fiduciary investor.

The Fiduciary Investors Symposium brings together global investors to examine the management of fiduciary assets in both investment strategy and implementation, including the latest thinking relating to asset allocation, risk management, beta management and alpha generation.

A big part of the event is examining the responsibilities of managing fiduciary capital and has become recognised as an event that challenges the influence and responsibility of fiduciary management.

The conference will examine integrity and ethics in the investment industry drawing on the experience of Ronald D Peyton, chairman and chief executive of Callan Associates and chair of the CFA Institute Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct Advisory Committee. Peyton will speak alongside AustralianSuper chief investment officer, Mark Delaney, about the ethics in the context of investment manager relationships and the fact that as asset owners get larger and employ more staff they need to be clear on their own internal ethics and responsibilities.

The A$90 billion AustralianSuper has endorsed the CFA’s Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct, and Delaney is a member of the committee.

The code outlines the ethical and professional responsibilities of firms that manage assets on behalf of clients and its attempt to get unity of basic standards worldwide.

It enforces the code for all its external managers as a part of a wider set of standards it has created and Delaney says it aligns with the commitment to protect and maximise its members’ retirement outcomes.

AustralianSuper is one of a growing number of asset owners around the globe which holds its managers to account on values and ethics.

The $60 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board which has nearly 300 investment manager relationships, holds those managers to account, quizzing them on values and ethics as part of the due diligence process.

The idea is the CFA code of manager conduct sits alongside the more quantitative GIPS reporting standards that are used almost universally now by managers.

CFA Asset Manager Code of Conduct:

1. Act in a professional and ethical manner at all times.
2. Act for the benefit of clients.
3. Act with independence and objectivity.
4. Act with skill, competence, and diligence.
5. Communicate with clients in a timely and accurate manner.
6. Uphold the applicable rules governing capital markets.

If you are an asset owner and are interested in being part of the event, contact amanda.white@top1000funds.com or visit www.fiduciaryinvestors.com