Issue - meetings
SUBMISSIONS FROM PENSION BOARD
Meeting: 29/11/2018 - Pensions Committee (Item 4)
SUBMISSIONS / REFERRALS FROM PENSION BOARD
Minutes:
The Committee received an update from John Jones, Chair of the Pensions Board.
The Committee noted that:
- The Pensions Board had met on 26th November 2018;
- The vacancies on the Board have been filled and the Board is now back to a full complement of 7 members: 3 employee and 3 employer representatives with John Jones as Independent Chair;
- The Board received 2 presentations at the meeting: the first from PIRC reviewing the performance of the Tower Hamlets Fund and the second from Colin Robertson on the Fund’s Investment Strategy and Divestment from Fossil Fuels;
- The PIRC presentation looked at the investment performance from 63 Local authority Funds in England, Wales and Scotland in terms of overall results, identified trends in asset classes and risk return. The Funds that have performed best tended to have less complex structures, hold a higher percentage in equities and have longer term relationships with managers. It was noted that Tower Hamlets meets these criteria. The Fund has performed very well in 2017/18 and ahead of its peers and ahead of inflation over all timeframes. A key factor in recent good performance has been the contribution from Baillie Gifford that offset weaker performance elsewhere. The Board agreed that the Committee should consider receiving the same presentation at a future meeting;
- Colin Robertson made a very useful presentation on the Funds Investment Strategy covering liability matching, return seeking and other risks. He went on to outline the context and approach to disinvestment from fossil fuels based on the report you have on the agenda today. This included discussion on the role of the London CIV and noting the relatively low carbon of the Tower Hamlets Fund compared to other similar Funds. The Board is supportive of the approach as set out in the report on the agenda today.
- The Board discussed the latest report on Voting and Engagement asked for more information in future from LAPFF and the CIV on the effect of their engagement with companies as much of it is described as dialogue.
- The Board also had a preliminary discussion on next year’s work plan. This also included feedback on the recent training sessions held for Board and Committee members. The unanimous view of those who attended was that the sessions had been very good and further training sessions should be arranged in 2019;
- It is very important that Board and Committee members can evidence effective training and development as this is an area of interest for the Pensions Regulator; and
- The monitoring report on Pensions administration was not available at the meeting so it could not be discussed on this occasion.
- Finally, it was noted that the issue of non-representation at the London CIV shareholder committee had been raised and given that Tower Hamlets has the largest percentage of pooled assets of all the London Boroughs. The Board made a recommendation that this issue should be raised by the Chair of pensions committee with the board of LCIV and the LCIV Shareholder Committee. ... view the full minutes text for item 4
Meeting: 18/09/2018 - Pensions Committee (Item 4)
SUBMISSIONS / REFERRALS FROM PENSION BOARD
Minutes:
The Committee received an update from John Jones, Chair of the Pensions Board.
The Pensions Board met on 18 September 2018 and raised concerns regarding voting at Investors Meetings. The Board has written to the London CIV and requested that Officers also make enquiries on a number of London wide issues. There were concerns raised with regards to Tesla’s failure to engage with American Trade Unions and the Company Health and Safety practice. Presently Baillie Gifford has a large holding in the mentioned company.
The Board also held discussions about the Pensions Administration Team and had welcomed the Team’s improving performance and proposal for maintaining its stability. There were also discussions held about ‘Class Actions’ and the importance of ensuring that the Fund is able to recover losses from management, agencies and contractors.
RESOLVED
To note the update.