Schroders steps back from City lobbying taskforce

Schroders has stepped back from a City taskforce lobbying to drive growth in the UK’s capital markets, despite its close ties with the asset manager’s former CEO Peter Harrison.

The Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT), which was established in 2022, is chaired by London Stock Exchange Group CEO Julia Hoggett, and counts Harrison as one of its core members.

But Schroders’ new CEO Richard Oldfield, who began in the role in November, was unconvinced that the group’s priorities were aligned with CMIT, according to Sky News’ Mark Kleinman.

Less than a year ago, Schroders was referring to itself as one of CMIT’s “committed supporters,” while Harrison was putting out statements “on behalf of the CMIT,” calling for policies to unlock UK pension assets and drive economic growth through capital markets.

On top of that one of the founding principles of Schroders’ joint private markets venture with Phoenix that launched last July was to “support the goals” of CMIT.

Harrison will remain on CMIT’s board in a personal capacity, with Schroders’ relationship with the taskforce still continuing in a more informal capacity.

“We continue to support CMIT’s aims of driving growth in the UK’s capital markets,” a Schroders spokesperson said.

CMIT has been campaigning on a range of issues, including pushing to increase the compensation for FTSE 100 chiefs, arguing that lower paypackets are leaving British companies less competitive.

Last year, the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum sounded the alarm over the lobbying activity of CMIT, stating it was “very concerned” over its efforts.

The body warned that it was “concerned that the positions being taken by CMIT are neither evidence based nor balanced, and some positions have little credibility in basic terms”, pointing to a lack of representation of asset owners on the CMIT, as opposed to “fee takers” such as asset managers.