Five asset managers were due to take part in the first meeting of a forum that UK regulators organised to tackle the risks to the financial services sector of climate change.
Wanting to have firms of various sizes represented, Hermes was due to join with BlackRock, Schroders, Standard Life Aberdeen and Invesco at the Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF) meeting last Friday.
The forum is organised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and its objective is to advance the financial sector’s responses to financial risks stemming from climate change.
A number of banks and insurers also took part, as did the London Stock Exchange.
At the Friday forum the members decided to set up four working groups to focus on risk management, scenario analysis, disclosure, and innovation, the FCA said.
Each working group will be chaired by a member of the forum and will meet more frequently than the three times a year of CFRF, reporting back at each CFRF meeting. The aim is to produce practical guidance on each of the four focus areas.
The final outputs will be shared with industry more widely, said the FCA. Membership of the working groups will include other industries and academics so the forum gains wider expertise.
The forum is chaired by Sarah Breeden, executive director of international banks supervision at the PRA, and Christopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA. It reports in to Sam Woods, chief executive of the PRA and deputy governor of the Bank of England, and Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the PRA.
An FCA statement about the meeting said: “Climate change and society’s response to it presents financial risks that are relevant to the PRA’s and FCA’s objectives. While these risks may crystallise in full over longer-time horizons, they are becoming apparent now.”
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