Understanding investors: the changing landscape - ACCA

6. Equity holdings continue to fall
‘We have had situations recently where we would
not invest because there was no reasonable
transparency – we couldn’t gauge the risks or
quality of governance. The level of reporting
simply wasn’t of a sufficient standard.’
Traditionally strong holders of equities,
UK investors have been reducing their
equity holdings for many years.
According to the latest figures by the
end of 2011, just 41.8% of total equity
holdings managed in the UK by IMA
members were allocated to UK equities,
down from a figure of 60% at end-2006.
The fall in equity holdings by pension
funds is particularly noticeable. UK
pension funds are holding more bonds
than equities for the first time in many
decades, according to research by JLT
Pension Capital Strategies. At the end
of 2011, the average fund portfolio was
43% invested in equities – the lowest
level since 1974, and a fall of 7
percentage points on the previous year,
according to Pension Fund Indicators
2012 (UBS Global Asset Management
2012) (see Figure 6.1).
A number of factors have played a role
in equities’ fall from favour. The dotcom
crash was an important signal, together
with major corporate problems in the
US such as the Enron scandal.
More recently, the financial meltdown in
2008 left investors understandably
cautious about investing in companies
that had previously been seen as
completely safe.
While UK investors may have reduced
their overall holdings of equities they
have, however, become increasingly
engaged as investors. The UK Financial
Reporting Council’s (FRC) Stewardship
Code, which sets out key principles for
investor engagement with UK equities,
has played an important role. A 2012
FRC report points out that investors have
been consulting each other informally
about concerns with companies: investor
bodies, for example, held collective
meetings with banks ahead of the 2012
bonus round. The report also identified
a number of cases where shareholder
engagement has had an impact on
boardroom changes (FRC 2012).
New technologies are creating
additional ways for shareholders to
become engaged. In the past few years,
investors have increasingly used social
media platforms to build support for
proposals and discuss companies’
performance.
‘There’s certainly more engagement
activity’, says Threadneedle’s Richards.
‘Some of that is driven by the pressure
both on companies and shareholders to
engage, some by real need. You saw
both last year, around the slightly
misnamed ‘shareholders’ spring’. That
saw some very high-profile cases linked
to issues around strategy and
performance – even though many of
them played out publicly in the context
of pay. Generally the dialogue with
good quality companies is much richer.’
While domestic equities have been
falling, international equity holdings,
particularly in emerging markets, have
seen relative increases, with overseas
equity holdings now accounting for
some three-fifths of overall equity
holdings. Concerns about governance
are even stronger here. ‘There is a large
difference between developed and
developing markets’, says Richards. ‘We
have had situations recently where we
would not invest because there was no
reasonable transparency – we couldn’t
gauge the risks or quality of
governance. The level of reporting
simply wasn’t of a sufficient standard.’
Social media is
increasing shareholder
engagement.
12
UNDERSTANDING INVESTORS: THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE