Managers with $2.3 trillion in AUM sign anti-racism pledge

Thirty-one institutional investors managing more than $2.3 trillion have signed the Responsible Investment Association’s (RIA) Canadian Investor Statement on Diversity and Inclusion.

These investors have pledged to promote diversity and inclusion through their shareholder engagement and to report their own efforts publicly.

In a September interview with Advisor’s Edge, Dustyn Lanz, CEO of the RIA, said his organization was inspired to create the investor statement after seeing the success of the BlackNorth CEO pledge led by Kingsdale Advisors executive chair Wes Hall.

“Many institutional investors collectively telling Canadian companies that they expect to see concrete efforts to advance [diversity and inclusion] on a number of fronts is very powerful,” Lanz said in September.

The 10 founding signatories announced last month represented $1.1 trillion in assets under management.

New signatories include BMO Global Asset Management; CIBC Asset Management; Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management; IG Wealth Management; Jarislowsky Fraser Global Investment Management; MD Financial Management Inc.; RBC Global Asset Management Inc. and SEI Investments.

Melissa Shin

Melissa is the editorial director of Advisor.ca and leads Newcom Media Inc.’s group of financial publications. She has been with the team since 2011 and been recognized by PMAC and CFA Society Toronto for her reporting. Reach her at mshin@newcom.ca. You may also call or text 416-847-8038 to provide a confidential tip.