City Hive appoints HL's Emma Wall and Rathbones' David Coombs as ACT chairs

ACT Stewardship and Global Leadership councils

City Hive has appointed Hargreaves' Landsdown Emma Wall and Rathbones' David Coombs as chairs of the ACT Stewardship Council and Global Leadership Council, respectively.

The appointments follow an increasing push for investment managers to commit to transparency and become signatories of City Hive's Action, Challenge, Transparency (ACT) Framework.

At the end of January, the advocacy group said ten investment management firms signed up to its ACT Framework in 2024, marking a 58.8% rise from the previous year.

City Hive's ACT sees 60% surge in signatories in 2024

Wall is head of platform investments at Hargreaves Lansdown and has been a member of the ACT Stewardship Council since May 2022, when it was launched.

The council consists of an expert panel with stakeholders from various investment management sectors, including fund gatekeepers, who are responsible for the philosophical direction of the ACT to ensure alignment with industry practices.

Coombs is head of multi-asset investments at Rathbones, has been a member of the ACT Global Leadership Council and ACT Stewardship Council since 2023, at which time the group became a signatory of the framework.

He said that while it is "reasonably straightforward" to evaluate a fund's investment risks, "it is much more difficult" to analyse its cultural or governance risks.

"The latter has rightly become a focus in recent times," Coombs said. "The ACT Framework is an important innovation in that respect, because it enables fund buyers to assess risks which at first seem unquantifiable and brings in that all-important accountability."

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Bev Shah and Mandy Kirby, co-CEOs of City Hive, said the expertise of the newly appointed chairs will be vital in helping ACT bolster transparency, accountability and strategic direction across the investment landscape.

"We are strengthening the leadership of the councils that govern ACT with the appointment of new chairs, both of whom bring first-hand experience in using ACT," Shah and Kirby continued. "This reinforces our commitment to rigorous governance and meaningful industry oversight."

Wall said she is "thrilled" to chair the ACT Stewardship Council, adding: "Good corporate culture results in better decision making, better talent retention and better commercial and client outcomes.

"The work of Bev, Mandy and ACT Stewardship members has driven transparency and better reporting on culture-related data points across the investment industry," HL's head of platform investments said.

"Thanks to ACT, professional investors can use the framework to make better informed investment decisions – placing their clients' money with firms which prioritise upholding and improving corporate culture."