ACT Signatory Journey: ‘This is not a set and forget, we are continuously working on culture and holding ourselves accountable every day’

Image: Jayne Fieldhouse

A conversation with Jayne Fieldhouse, managing director and head of global institutional marketing at RBC Bluebay Asset Management, who discusses being the very first Signatory to ACT, bringing two firms’ separate cultures together, and having cultural objectives for the leadership team.

RBC BlueBay was the very first Signatory to ACT. Tell us about how the conversation started and why this was important for your business? 

Culture has always been an important part of the business, so the introduction of ACT by City Hive was an evolution for us. Given our team’s longstanding relationship with City Hive, when Bev explained the concept of ACT we understood immediately the benefit to the industry. 

ACT just makes good business sense. Being able to proactively present our culture to our prospects and clients within a structure that allows them to like-for-like assess us against our peers is an area we feel we can confident in.

How have you found reporting in line with the ACT Framework on an annual basis? 

The template actually offers a really nice way to be able to express our culture without us trying to second guess how to present it to prospects and clients. 

Generally, strong governance and standardised reporting are part of our ‘BAU’ activity, so incorporating the ACT Framework was a simple addition to existing approaches and processes – it certainly isn’t a laborious process. As a business we focus on making life easier for our clients, so our approach is that if the survey helps clients and prospects understand us better or answer questions they may have, it is worth doing.

What have you learned about your business? What are your priorities around values and culture? 

Our culture drives everything we do across the business. We look to embed continuous learning and a growth mindset, collaborate with one another and cultivate an environment of inclusivity and transparency. 

After the integration of the two businesses (RBC Global Asset Management and BlueBay), in 2024 we completed a risk culture audit and asked all of RBC BlueBay employees to complete surveys on their experiences. We also engaged in focus group interviews, individual interviews, and analysed internal communications. The intent was to gain a stronger perspective on our culture.

Along with the results of our annual employee survey, three main themes emerged that we have prioritised and developed an action plan around:

1.  Career growth 

2.  Inclusive experiences 

3.  Reward and recognition

Since the action plan was shared with employees, multiple initiatives have taken place. One example of an initiative within this scope is our work with senior female talent. Although we have a broadly diverse organisation, we are proactively looking at ways to increase female talent in senior leadership as well as investment team roles.

We don’t put in targets around culture, but we do look to make continuous improvements through measuring progress against the action plans.

How do your teams challenge and hold each other accountable? 

Further to the culture audit and action plan, progress against the areas of focus is periodically reported to the Leadership Team to ensure accountability and continued measurement of progress made. One way this is done is via our ‘Employee Engagement Dashboard’, which was built in 2024 to inform our understanding of what is and what is not having a positive effect, and to maintain momentum around these areas of priority.

This year we also formally incorporated an objective within our strategic business goals to “support and enhance our employee journey” to cultivate a positive culture. As part of this we have a working group in place, and we will also be repeating both surveys.

As a leadership team, we also undertake a lot of active engagement and listening on a continuous basis, to understand how employees are feeling and to analyse our corporate health and engagement. In response, we ensure we are transparent on all aspects of the business, area of focus and the feedback we receive.

Across RBC we also have, what we call a Leadership Model, which we actively promote and drive to all levels. The model provides guiding behaviours expected of employees. Individuals are measured against this in their performance reviews and in various promotion considerations. The leadership team has cultural elements in their objectives, which form part of their performance reviews.

Fundamentally, across all the above, our collective growth mindset and our commitment to transparency throughout the business helps drive accountability. 

As a firm that has been through a merger, what have you learned about bringing different cultures together? 

I think I can say that ours was not a “standard” M&A.

RBC Global Asset Management bought BlueBay a decade before formally bringing the two organisations together. This is just one example of the thoughtful approach taken with an aim to, 1) limit any disruption to clients, and 2) to fully understand and be respectful of one another’s cultures, as well as driving collaboration.

There are always going to be teething issues when you bring together organisations around processes, technology, approaches etc. 

Despite those challenges, although we expressed it differently, we had very similar cultures. The focus has been on understanding this, and then offering transparency across the business. I found that many individuals handle change differently, so the emphasis on transparency has really helped multiple teams understand any changes. 

Our combined approach of collaboration and growth mindset, coupled with this high level of transparency has helped, but it is not a set and forget, we are continuously working on culture and holding ourselves accountable every day.

You are hosting the InvestorsACT Conference, three years on from the launch of ACT. What are you looking forward to? What do you think the main conversation will be among the attendees? 

I’m most looking forward to meeting new people, catching up with familiar faces, and learning from others. Events like this are a huge opportunity to reflect and get a fresh perspective from others. 

I’m expecting there to be talk about ACT signatories, celebrating how far it has come in such a short period of time. The momentum is fantastic! Along with this, I am sure ACT signatories will also be keen to see how they can further support. 

I don’t have a crystal ball, but given how volatile markets have been, I suspect the latest political news flow will certainly crop up, possibly in the context of how culture can be impacted by the political activity of the US.

Why is it important for investment managers to come together and collaborate on improving industry culture? What are the benefits for investors? 

Our industry has received negative feedback over the years due to a lack of trust. Culture is a huge part of this, so if we can collectively demonstrate to investors that our industry is focused on culture, this will go a long way.

Rhetoric around “client-centricity”, being “client-focused”, or “partnering with clients” will feature on the website of most leading asset managers. So ensuring we practice what we preach will be valuable to client trust and engagement.