£5bn UK charity sector pension fund targets responsible investment with new hire

The Pensions Trust hires Citi SRI analyst Anderson

The Pensions Trust, the £5bn (€5.8bn) pension provider for the UK’s charity and voluntary sector, has hired a socially responsible investment analyst from Citi to help it build its responsible investment strategy.

Jennifer Anderson joins from Citi Investment Research & Analysis, where she was responsible for publishing SRI research, as Investment Officer. Before Citi she was with the SRI team at fund firm Jupiter Asset Management.

“In her new role, Jennifer will be responsible for developing the Trust’s responsible investment policy,” the trust said.

The trust, a signatory to both the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the UK Stewardship Code, runs 29 defined benefit schemes, four multi-employer defined benefit schemes, three multi-employer hybrid schemes, a Flexible Retirement Plan and an Ethical Fund, which tracks FTSE4Good indices.

It appointed Governance for Owners (GO) as its engagement partner late last year.Anderson will advise the board, investment committee and Chief Investment Officer David Adkins on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

“Jennifer will be responsible for developing responsible investment policy”

CEO Stephen Nichols said developing a responsible investment strategy was “a crucial step in ensuring we are able to provide the best possible pension solutions for the charitable and voluntary sectors”.

The Trust serves over 2,400 employer organisations with over 153,000 members and pensioners.

In 2011, Anderson was voted one of the top three analysts for thematic SRI research in the annual Thomson Reuters Extel Survey.