Colonial First State announces appointment for stewardship services

EOS at Federated Hermes has been appointed by Colonial First State (CFS) to provide engagement, voting and public policy support for its global equity investments.

The move will see EOS provide ESG support to nine Australian institutions representing $320.5 billion in assets under advice.

“We believe that active ownership, including engagement with and voting on how a company operates its business, leads to better long-term returns for shareholders and hence our customers,” CFS general manager investments, Scott Tully, said.

“We look forward to leveraging the knowledge and experience that EOS will bring to our engagement program across global markets and to expanding our advocacy efforts.”

Federated Hermes’ head of distribution Australia and New Zealand Gary Horton added that the appointment will allow CFS to be a “more active owner” of its assets.

“We look to engage with companies where there is a meaningful issue to resolve and where there is the ability to enact change,” Mr Horton said.

“Issues could range from diversity on boards or in executive teams, supply chain sustainability issues, or whether plans to address climate change and offset carbon emissions are sufficiently in place.”

The news comes after CFS announced a revamp of its wrap business, with a new platform expected to launch in late 2022.

The wealth management group said it has appointed FNZ as the platform provider to replace its current solution under its unique platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model, in a bid to lift its competitiveness by creating a “market leading” proposition for financial advisers.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.