Chancellor pressures asset managers to cut ties with Russia
The Treasury has ramped up pressure on asset managers to dump their holdings in sanctioned Russian firms, with chancellor Rishi Sunak hosting top industry bosses last week to discuss divestment.
The Chancellor and City Minister John Glen hosted a roundtable of industry leaders from firms including Aviva, Phoenix, Fidelity and Schroeders last Friday to demand they signal a firmer approach to divesting their remaining Russian holdings, Sky News’ Mark Kleinman first reported.
Representatives from industry body the Investment Association (IA) and the city watchdog FCA also attended the meeting, with sources telling Sky News that the Treasury told the bosses present to notify officials if they were aware of industry peers still purchasing Russian assets.
An IA spokeswoman confirmed the body’s attendance at the meeting, telling Reuters it took part in the roundtable with asset managers to discuss “issues associated with divestment from Russian assets”.
In a tweet on Friday Sunak said he had met with “leading figures in financial services to discuss UK investment in Russia and what more we can do to inflict maximum economic pain on Putin”.
Sources at the meeting said that the Treasury was looking to gather further ideas from bosses on how the industry could put further pressure on Putin and the Russian economy.
The asset management industry has scrambled to sever ties with Russia, with Aviva and Fidelity – both attendees at the meeting with the chancellor – among the names to have committed to dumping their Russian holdings so far.
Abrdn and Royal London also said last week they would scrap Russian investments for the foreseeable future.