members of the British parliament are also looking to join these efforts in economically isolating Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime.
The trustees have now agreed to divest away from Russian assets in response to the escalating conflict in Ukraine. The decision was made following a meeting held on Thursday after a group of over 60 MPs raised their concerns about the fund’s connection to Russian oil and gas firms. Accordingly, the trustees have committed to act immediately, in order to ensure the fund was free of both direct and indirect Russian interests. “Should we be disinvesting from Russian interests? Yes, as quickly and as far as possible, though we have to do this through our fund managers,” Labour MP Clive Betts, a member of the board of trustees, said.
According to the MPs’ letter to the trustees, in annual review of the fund for 2020, HSBC was listed as one of the scheme’s top 20 holdings. “According to Bloomberg data, HSBC, through its asset management arm, owns equity stakes in five of the biggest Russian oil and gas companies – Gazprom, Rosneft, Tatneft, Lukoil and Novatek,” the letter, co-ordinated by the Green party’s Caroline Lucas, read. “HSBC doesn’t just do business with Russian oil and gas companies – it owns them. We therefore call for the immediate withdrawal of the fund’s investments from HSBC and from any other companies that are implicated in Russia in similar ways.”
Accordingly, the trustees’ recent commitment was welcomed by Lucas, who called for a “root and branch investigation”, so that the MPs can be confident that “not one penny of our pension funds are directly or indirectly linked with Putin’s murderous regime”.
