Asset Managers

Culture is Now a Benchmark

ACT is the industry-recognised standard for measuring and improving corporate culture. Being a signatory shows your commitment to inclusion, strong governance, and building trust with clients.

“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.”

Jayne Fieldhouse
Managing Director, Head of Global Institutional Marketing at RBC BlueBay Asset Management

What is ACT?

Why Culture

The ACT Collective

The ACT Academy

Insights & Research

ACT turns culture into a measurable advantage — proving your commitment, protecting your reputation, and positioning you as a trusted choice for investors

What is ACT?

ACT is a disclosure framework for corporate culture

ACT is the disclosure framework that turns culture into measurable, comparable data. It enables firms to demonstrate how their internal culture supports their external commitments — and how they are progressing over time.


Industry-recognised benchmark

industry-recognised benchmark for culture and inclusion

Why culture – and why now?

Culture is no longer optional — clients expect proof, not promises.

ACT is the disclosure framework that turns culture into measurable, comparable data. It enables firms to demonstrate how their internal culture supports their external commitments — and how they are progressing over time.

Client expectations

culture is now a standalone due diligence pillar

Signals commitment

to better culture, governance, and transparency

Combat greenwashing

investors need evidence, not spin


Drives outcomes

strengthening both internal culture and external reputation


Trust through transparency

firms that disclose culture earn confidence and credibility

Why culture – and why now?

Assessing culture isn’t optional anymore — it’s central to mandate decisions

Growing focus on producer, not just product

Clients are going beyond product level to consider the entire company ecosystem. Culture is central to how firms adapt to face complex global challenges. What can you say about your culture?

Evidence to combat greenwashing

Professional investors are under pressure to uncover greenwashing. Culture and diversity have become a standalone pillar of client due diligence, alongside other ESG factors.

Build trust through transparency

Demonstrating transparency on how internal culture enables a firm to meet external commitments is important to creating and maintaining stakeholder trust.

Standardised disclosure framework

Helping firms understand, progress, and report on culture consistently.

Decision-ready data

Turning subjective culture into comparable insights that strengthen investor analysis.

The solution? ACT

Built with and for investors to make culture measurable

Built with the industry

Recognising that inclusion and positive culture drive sustainable growth and client outcomes.

Look credible. Work smarter. Build trust.

For MRTs, ACT is more than a framework — it’s a tool to shine in front of clients while simplifying the due diligence process. It positions you as an authority on culture, gives you comparable data at speed, and ensures your analysis is both rigorous and trusted.

The ACT-Mark is a symbol of trust

It is an assurance to the consumer that the values of the organisation managing their investments are aligned with their behaviours.

125+ Companies reporting with ACT

How professional fund investors use ACT

Making culture measurable across mandates and reporting

Professional fund investors need reliable ways to assess what sits behind a firm’s promises. ACT makes culture measurable, comparable, and transparent — giving MRTs the tools to strengthen analysis and hold managers accountable.

Request ACT status

Screen for Signatory status via data platforms alongside proprietary RfPs

Request and analyse ACT disclosures

Analyse disclosure track record and comparisons via Door due diligence platform

Communicate along value chain

Data on signatory clients can be used in impact reports and stakeholder communication

Embed in scoring process

Adopt ACT Framework into asset manager assessment and scoring

Request more information today

Want to know how ACT can support your due diligence?

Discover how ACT can integrate into your research process and strengthen your conversations with asset managers.

Shape the Standard

The ACT Collective

Join the ACT Collective — a growing network of manager research teams committed to building transparency and stronger cultural standards.

THE ACT Academy

Free Access to Learning & Events

As a member of the ACT Collective, manager research teams get complimentary access to all ACT Academy events. These sessions are designed to deepen understanding, share best practice, and strengthen culture-focused due diligence.

 FAQs

All you need to know

  • One of the key roles that manager research teams (MRT) undertake is assessing the intentions and actions of an asset manager and undertaking ongoing monitoring across a wide range of metrics. Increasingly, company culture, how it responds to questions about diversity and inclusion and how this helps to create a strong investment process is coming to the fore. But a lack of agreed terminology or set of questions, this can be a challenging, manual process.

     Ultimately the ACT Framework aims to address this by capturing a company’s external commitments and show how they link to internal values. Companies that are using the ACT Framework are signalling to manager research teams that they understand the importance of looking at culture and inclusion across their whole business.

    MRTs will know that by going through the framework, those companies will be able to identify gaps in their actions and create milestones to measure progress. Being able to ask standardised ACT Framework questions helps to create good conversations with asset managers, ensuring they understand that a good culture with inclusive practice is important.  

  • Manager research teams can access all ACT Framework content for free, via the Door Platform. The platform enables teams to request information from asset managers and for it to be supplied in a predictable and accessible way. 

    The requests are sent on to the asset manager RfP team. If the asset manager has not already completed the framework questions, it is also a helpful way to communicate that this information is important. While we recommend reviewing responses via the full ACT Framework, which covers nine areas of action, challenge and transparency across the business, individual topic areas will also supplement the research process.

     

    To get a comprehensive and authentic response, asset managers should be expected to request around 3 months to complete the question set from scratch. Going beyond 6 months would signal difficulties in providing responses.

    The full question set and high-level overview on what processes, activities and milestones to look out for can be accessed via the www.investorsact.com website.

  • All asset classes including alternatives

    All types of firms regardless of ownership structure or size.

ACT Stewardship Council

The ACT Stewardship Council sets the philosophical direction of ACT — balancing ambition with the speed of industry change.

ACT Insights

Stay ahead with expert research, reports, and commentary on how culture shapes investment outcomes.

ACT Academy

Events, workshops, and training designed to build knowledge and inspire cultural change across the investment industry.

Real Culture. Real Value.

Jayne Fieldhouse
Managing Director, Head of Global Institutional Marketing at RBC BlueBay Asset Management

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.

Real companies. Real culture. Real reporting.

Across the UK and beyond, over 125 firms are actively reporting on their corporate culture through ACT.

This growing community is proving that culture can be measured — and that transparency drives trust. Start your reporting journey with us and bring your culture into focus.

125+

firms currently reporting


Alex Matcham
Head of UK Wholesale Distribution, M&G Investments

What resonated with us was its ability to quantify corporate culture, something often overlooked despite being a fundamental part of our people-focused industry.

We believe good culture translates to better client outcomes, particularly in mitigating risk. The level of industry support behind ACT also signalled that this was a long-term movement, not a passing trend.