As a fund management business we exert our influence by demanding ethical and sustainable practices from companies we invest in. We are committed to applying these same high standards to our own business, to ensure that we continue to operate in a responsible and ethical manner and meet the expectations of all our stakeholder groups.

Our business

Morley Fund Management is a wholly owned, independently managed asset management business of Aviva plc. It is our aim to maximise the creation of wealth for all who invest with us. Our clients include some of the world’s largest financial institutions, pension funds and public sector organisations, as well as many public and private companies. As Aviva’s largest fund management company, Morley is committed to finding the right investment solutions for institutional or retail investors.

With over £164 billion of assets under management (as at 30/11/07) and around 800 employees, Morley is one of the UK’s largest fund management companies. With its principal office in London, Morley also has offices in Milan, Madrid, Frankfurt, Shanghai, an associate office in Boston (MFM International, an Aviva Group Company), and associate companies in Dublin, Melbourne, Warsaw and Luxembourg.

Corporate social responsibility management

At Morley Fund Management, we pride ourselves on being a responsible company, and demonstrate this commitment through:

• the way we manage investments – as one of the largest fund managers in the UK, our main social and environmental impacts are manifested through the investment decisions we make
• the way we sell our products and communicate with our clients – we aim to sell our products in a transparent manner to ensure that clients are provided with the best opportunities, at the right time and for the right price.
• the way we manage and mitigate our environmental and social footprints – the direct impacts of our business.

Our approach to responsible investment

Morley Fund Management’s core business is to manufacture and distribute investment products. Recognising and managing the trade-off between short-term performance and long-term responsible capital allocation is a key to delivering the best services to our clients. Part of this process is to explicitly integrate analysis of social, environmental and governance issues as part of our investment process.

Our approach to responsible investment is implemented through the activities of our dedicated Sustainable & Responsible Investment (SRI) and Corporate Governance (CG) teams. These teams include specialists who analyse the short- and long-term impact of social and environmental issues on investment performance. This analysis is used to inform our investment decisions. It also helps Morley to maximise its positive influence among the companies in which we invest to improve their overall approach to managing social, environmental and governance issues. For more information please see our SRI research process.

Managing our direct impacts

Corporate social responsibility governance

Led by nominated corporate social responsibility manager Tim Barker, Head of Credit Research, Morley’s corporate social responsibility committee is currently made up of 15 senior members of staff; comprising policy owners for all CSR-related policies, plus additional members to ensure widespread representation from key business areas. Annual targets and objectives are set by each policy owner, and are tracked through regular updates to the CSR committee. We encourage members of the CSR committee to attend external workshops and conferences to improve their knowledge of CSR and related issues.

The committee reports to its executive sponsor Chris Oglethorpe, managing director human resources and communications. Chris, in turn, is responsible for updating Morley’s Executive Committee on our CSR progress and for briefing them on any specific issues for consideration.

Communicating CSR

We communicate regularly about CSR-related activities, both within our business and to external stakeholders. Internally, staff are updated on issues and initiatives through information posted on the Morley intranet.

We receive external media coverage for our socially responsible investment (SRI) funds and property investments, as well as our active approach to corporate governance. We publish summaries of all press coverage on the Morley intranet, which in turn helps to raise the awareness of CSR issues among Morley employees.