Stewardship in the UK - The 2019 Draft Stewardship Code in Context

Abstract

The article interrogates the idea of creating a market for stewardship and identifies obstacles that stand in the way of such a market. In particular tax relief for pension investments deprives pension investors from an incentive to monitor investment and demand stewardship activity by their service providers. By granting tax relief the government has become a financial contributor to and a stakeholder in the financial services industry that services pensions. The article asks the question if pension tax relief should be made dependent on stewardship/governance criteria.

Keywords: UK Stewardship Code 2019, pensions, stewardship, institutional investors, corporate governance

JEL Classification: K22, K34