OpenLobby.EU
Explore

Federated Hermes Limited

FHL

Federated Hermes is guided by the conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create long-term wealth.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Elena Arveras (Cabinet of Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque)

8 Jul 2025 · SFDR review

Meeting with Florian Denis (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness) and Irish Funds Industry Association CLG

10 May 2023 · money markets funds

Meeting with Florian Denis (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness)

28 Apr 2022 · EU priorities regarding regulated investment funds including MMF Regulation review and AIFM/UCITS Directives review

Meeting with Florian Denis (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness) and aMdeC consulting SL

24 Feb 2022 · MMF reforms and STFMs improving AIFMD/UCITS reviews ESG sustainable finance

Meeting with Lukas Visek (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

15 Jun 2021 · Discussion on sustainable food systems

Response to Institutional investors' and asset managers' duties regarding sustainability

21 Jun 2018

Hermes MIFID II consultation response It is a long-held belief of Hermes Investment Management that the environmental and social impacts of investments cannot be considered separately to financial considerations - since these impacts will fundamentally affect the conditions into which Hermes’ end beneficiaries retire into, impacting the quality of their retirement. For that reason we have a philosophy of aiming to deliver outcomes beyond simply financial performance, in the form of “holistic returns”. Delivering a sustainable financial system and economy that meets the ambition set out by the Sustainable Development Goals will require all actors within the investment chain to play their part. There has been much confusion to date over the obligations of those actors to take environmental social and governance (ESG) issues into account, which has hampered progress to mainstream sustainable approaches to investment. As such legal clarification – such as those proposed for the delegated act under Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments (MiFID II) – is to be welcomed. We endorse the proposed changes as stated. Further we would like to put explicitly on the record our belief that there is no trade-off between financial returns and enhanced ESG outcomes over the medium to long-term. For example: • In the research study – ‘From the stockholder to the stakeholder’ - it was found that 80% of academic studies show that stock price performance of companies is positively influenced by good sustainability practices. The study concludes, based on the economic impact alone, it is in the best interest of investors and corporate managers to incorporate sustainability considerations into their decision making processes. See https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2508281 • A second study – ‘Carbon Disclosure, Emission Levels, and the Cost of Debt’ - demonstrates the link between carbon emissions and the cost of debt of companies. It found companies that are transparent regarding their CO2 emissions have significantly lower cost of debt – again such companies would be picked up in ESG-aligned strategies. See https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2719665 • A third paper by Hermes – ‘ESG Investing: It still makes you feel good, it still makes you money’ – sets out how exposure to stocks with high ESG risk detracts from financial performance. Hermes analysis from 2014 found a strong correlation between corporate responsibility and shareholder returns, finding that companies with poor governance practices consistently underperformed their peers by up to 30bps each month. An update of this study in 2016 found this ‘governance premium’ is now entrenched: companies with strong corporate oversight have tended to outperform their poorly governed competitors by 30bps per month on average since the beginning of 2009. Furthermore, this study also shows that the premium holds true across different geographies and sectors – albeit with a few caveats – proving the widespread power of effective corporate governance. See https://www.hermes-investment.com/ukw/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2016/09/ESG-investing.pdf and uploaded Bearing all of the above in mind, the moves proposed by the European Commission to require investment firms and portfolio managers to take into account the ESG investment objectives of clients when providing investment advice or portfolio management is a proportionate and welcome move. Introducing a mandatory assessment of the ESG preferences of clients and explaining how stated ESG preferences are reflected in the selection of the financial products offered to these clients will help boost demand for sustainable financial products that lead to better outcomes for clients and society.
Read full response

Meeting with Andrea Beltramello (Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis), Elina Melngaile (Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis)

19 Jun 2018 · Sustainable Finance and Fiduciary Duty