Wesleyan earns responsible investor accolade

Wesleyan - the specialist financial services mutual for professionals in the education, medical and dental sectors - has secured the Responsible Investor of the Year award at the Insurance Asset Risk Awards.

The Birmingham-based business won the award for its responsible investment strategy, led by director of investments, Martin Lawrence.

The investment team is made up of 23 people and has more than £8 billion in assets under management, ranging from stocks to property and bonds.

The mutual is committed to ensuring all its directly managed funds meet a robust set of investing principles that focus on reducing harm, positive impact and driving change.

This means that investments are made in companies that are actively working to protect the environment and tackle the issues that impact the planet and its people.

Martin Lawrence (pictured) said: “This award means a lot to our team and shows we 're on the right track with our responsible investment ambitions.

“The business launched its enhanced Sustainable Investing Policy in October 2021 and we have refined our investment approach to match, which applies to all our directly-managed customer funds and not just a selection of them. This sets us apart from competitors in a crowded marketplace.

“We have also expanded our in-house Socially Responsible Investment team, to give us the additional expertise required to consider a broad range of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in the companies we invest in.

“As a mutual serving some of society 's most trusted professions, we have sustainability at the heart of our business. We care about doing the right thing for our customers, their communities and the wider world, which means we have a duty to invest in a responsible, sustainable way. ”

Wesleyan is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), a United Nations supported network of investors that works together to drive best-practice on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues, and a signatory of Climate Action 100+, an organisation focused on ensuring the world 's largest greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change.

The firm has pledged to become operationally carbon neutral by the end of 2023 and is working towards the whole organisation, including its investments portfolio, to be carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest.