Responsible investment

Investing responsibly means recognising member priorities

When it comes to your members’ pension investments, growing their money and managing risk are their – and our – top priorities.

We also know that most members, while aiming for growth, want to avoid investment in harmful activities and to drive positive change where possible. A smaller group of members would also like to select investments based on their own values and ethics.

By investing responsibly we’re prioritising members’ financial goals while also considering some other factors we know are important to them.

Discover our range of responsible investing solutions below to help your members invest for their future.

Our robust approach to responsible investment

Responsible investment is a combination of different approaches to managing money that includes environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

When it comes to your investments, we’re accountable to you and your members. That’s why ESG factors are considered in many of our investment options. It’s also why we need to understand how investment managers take account of ESG factors when building portfolios.

Making it easy to invest responsibly

Where your members’ pension plans are invested is very important. It has a big impact on how much they’ll have in their pot when they retire and how long this will last, and it can help to take account of other factors that are important to them. That’s why we’ve created a clear choice of ways to invest responsibly - from our easy default to a range of self-select funds.

With most workplace pension scheme members opting to stay in their scheme default, it’s important that it has a comprehensive yet clear strategy to meet most member’s needs.

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Sustainable Multi Asset Universal Strategic Lifestyle Profile (SLP) 

Our "default" investment option is designed for the majority of members. It aims to help members achieve a good outcome when they come to retire by:

• growing capital in the initial years of the savings journey
• preserving it as members approach retirement
• focusing on ESG factors we believe are financially material

Sustainable Multi Asset Universal SLP uses three responsible investment approaches:

1. Negative screening
   Screening out financially material ESG risks (e.g controversial weapons, tobacco etc)
2. Positive tilting
   Investing in companies that have a higher ESG rating
3. Stewardship
   Influencing positive change through stewardship, utilising proxy voting and company engagement to drive positive behaviour

We continually review and, where appropriate, evolve our investment options so they continue to target how you plan to take your money at retirement or your savings goals. You can find out about any changes we’re making on our fund news page.

Find out more about Sustainable Multi-Asset

More choice for members

While our Sustainable Multi Asset Universal SLP is designed to meet the needs of the majority of your members, we recognise some will want to invest in a different way. For members who want to take a different approach, we’ve a range of options to help them do this.

Alternative Sustainable Multi Asset options

We have three additional lifestyle profiles, available as self-select options for members who are looking to target a specific outcome:

• Sustainable Multi Asset Annuity SLP (a guaranteed regular income)
• Sustainable Multi Asset Drawdown SLP
• Sustainable Multi Asset Lump Sum SLP

Future Advantage fund range

Our Future Advantage range consists of five risk-rated funds that members can select based on their attitude to risk.

• We aim to grow your member’s investment over the long-term through a risk-managed approach
• There are five funds in the range, each designed to match a different risk attitude on a scale of 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest)
• A responsible investment approach using exclusions, tilting and stewardship is predominantly delivered through the underlying equity content in each fund (this will vary across the range based on where each fund invests)
• Investment experts will manage the fund with the aim of achieving the best possible returns for the risk level chosen
• These are mainly passive solutions, however the funds can use active or passive strategies and will invest through other funds from across the industry.

More information on the Future Advantage range, including the level of responsible investment content, can be found in the fund factsheets.

We continually review and, where appropriate, evolve our investment options so they continue to target how you plan to take your money at retirement or your savings goals. You can find out about any changes we’re making on our fund news page.

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Self-select investment options

For members who want to be more involved in their pension investment, we offer a self-select range of funds, with different strategies, selections of asset types and ESG approaches.

Our active fund options include both screened and thematic options from a range of fund managers.

We also offer passive fund options that track the performance of different market and custom indices. These funds exclude investments that don't meet certain criteria such as specific socially responsible or religious principles.

Please note that the availability of funds depends on the type of pension scheme you choose.

The list below shows a sample of funds that meet our responsible investment criteria, as at October 2024. There may be other options available to your members, that aren’t in our list of responsible investment funds but that may meet their goals.

Members can find out how they could compare some types of responsible investment. If members need help making investment decisions they should talk to a financial adviser.

Responsible investment based on strong principles

Standard Life Assurance Limited's approach to responsible investment is based on the United Nations-supported Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI), the FCA's Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and the UK Stewardship Code.