MM Meets… Jasper Berens: ‘I thought: this is the moment’

I once referred to Jasper Berens as an “industry veteran” in an article I wrote for Money Marketing.

I don’t think the title enthused the current head of client relationships and distribution at CCLA, but it seems a fitting mantra for a man who has been gleaning and sharing experience across the asset management industry since the early 1990s.

After obtaining a degree in history from Bristol University, Berens started in a fund sales role for Hambros Fund Management in 1993.

There is a genuine demand to understand sustainability more

“I thought I was going be one of those people that, when I had put the last full stop down on my last finals paper, there would be some divine enlightenment about what I should do,” Berens tells me when we meet at CCLA’s head office on London’s Angel Lane.

“But I had no idea what I was going to do.”

Like many, Berens ‘fell into’ financial services.

“What I liked about fund management was the idea of taking people’s capital, growing it and delivering an income from it,” he says. “I thought, ‘That’s so creative.’”

Finance seems a world away from history, but there is some common ground, Berens argues.

“When you study history, you see cycles appear and you learn about individuals who have dramatic impacts on the world. Similarly, in fund management, cycles are created over time. They’re never exactly the same, but they chime.”

I would love CCLA to be the firm that advisers of whatever shape or size come to

One of the main things that attracted Berens to fund management was the responsibility a fund manager has over people’s money, with a duty to invest it in a way that makes returns for the customer.

“It’s one of the most powerful things you can do,” he says.

Hambros Fund Management merged with Guinness Flight in 1998. The business has since broken up but remnants exist in the form of companies such as JO Hambro and SG Kleinwort Hambros.

“I’ve always been involved on the client-facing side of asset management throughout my career,” says Berens.

After leaving Hambros in 1996, he joined Fleming’s, which was bought by Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000 and — through various deals — became what is now JP Morgan Asset Management. Berens remained there for 20 years, becoming managing director and head of the firm’s UK retail management business.

We believe that SDR is heading in the right direction and we can play a very major part in that

He left in 2018 and moved into the role of global head of distribution at Artemis, where he stayed for three years.

“After I left Artemis, I was thinking about what to do next.”

Inspiration strikes

It was Sir David Attenborough’s 2020 documentary, ‘A Life on Our Planet’, that fortified Berens’ decision to move into the world of sustainability investing.

“What [the film] did brilliantly, as it went through each decade, was to show the impact that mankind was having on the world at different times throughout history. It was deeply moving.

“It made the point very strongly that capitalism could play a part in the shift to a more sustainable future. And I thought, ‘Right, this is the moment. How can I use my 30 years of client-facing experience to make a difference in the world?’”

Despite its size, Amazon wants to engage with us on mental health. It is listening to us

Berens joined CCLA in his current role in September 2021.

“The reason I joined CCLA and took up this role was I felt very strongly that I wanted to work for a fund management company that genuinely believed in making real-world change, and in using its investment platform to make that happen.”

The role also enabled Berens to explore his entrepreneurial side.

CCLA has a long heritage, having been born through the launch of the Church of England Investment Fund in 1958. This allowed church organisations to pool their funds for greater efficiency and service.

Local authorities followed this lead in 1961 and, in 1963, the Charity Commission emulated them for the broader charity market.

Prior to the FCA’s involvement, intermediaries and consumers were confused by what sustainability ESG was

With the introduction of financial services regulation in 1987, Churches, Charities and Local Authorities [CCLA] Investment Management Limited was formed.

The firm places its focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG), ethical and responsible investment — an ethos that stems from this heritage. It is owned by investment funds of its three client groups — churches, charities and local authorities.

It describes itself as the “spirit of a mutual in the body of a commercial private limited company”.

Berens says: “CCLA has historically operated in the not-for-profit sector. But several people were coming from that sector to CCLA, asking it to invest their own assets. There was no opportunity for CCLA to do that, so we wanted to create one. It was the perfect role for me because it allowed me to join a great and well-established organisation but also build something new.”

For the past two years, Berens has been building CCLA’s sustainability offering for advisers and clients.

I wanted to work for a fund management company that genuinely believed in making real-world change, and in using its investment platform to make that happen

“We’ve got a team of five people who have joined us to take our capability out into the discretionary and advisory markets for end consumers,” he says.

“We have launched the Better World Global Equity fund, which is now about £290m in size.

“We’ve got the fund onto 34 platforms. This is one of the things that we’re most proud of because getting funds onto retail platforms, even at the biggest global fund management companies, is not particularly easy.”

Berens explains that CCLA has been taking its product out to more and more advisers and discretionary fund managers by talking to the press, going to events and using the “old-fashioned” means: calling people.

“The reaction has been an incredibly strong one,” he says.

“We understand that there is a strong demand out there for a fund management company that can bring proper sustainability to advisers and their clients, but also strong investment returns.

“Our global equity fund does exactly that.”

Regulatory change

Berens says two recent pieces of regulation, which both came into effect last year, have been “absolutely critical” for the future of CCLA as a retail intermediary business: the Consumer Duty and the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR).

It was the perfect role because it allowed me to join a great and well-established organisation but also build something new

The Financial Conduct Authority brought in its Consumer Duty rules at the end of July. The new regulations marked a “major shift” by setting higher and clearer standards of consumer protection. They have already led to firms making changes to savings rates and fees.

In November, the regulator published its final rules under the SDR. It is hoped the measures will “improve the trust and transparency” of sustainable investment products and “minimise greenwashing”, which is defined as the act of “making people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is”.

As part of the requirements, the regulator has introduced four new sustainability labels: ‘focus’, ‘improvers’, ‘impact’ and ‘mixed goal’.

Berens believes SDR is pointing the fund management industry in the right direction.

What I liked about fund management was the idea of taking people’s capital, growing it and delivering an income from it. I thought: that’s so creative

“Prior to the FCA’s involvement, intermediaries and consumers were confused by what sustainability ESG was.

“I think there’s now going to be much greater clarity in understanding what products are and what they’re intended to deliver. That is a really good outcome for consumers.”

But there is still “much work to be done”, he insists.

“Where [CCLA] is going to primarily sit is around the ‘improvers’ label. We believe strongly that being able to engage with the companies that we invest in, and companies generally, is how you make change happen.

“SDR allows for the classification of products and funds into various buckets. Both ‘focus’ and ‘impact’ invest in companies that are already there in terms of sustainability. ‘Improver’ allows people to invest in companies where change is still to happen and where we, as investors or shareholders, can make it happen.

The Attenborough film made the point very strongly that capitalism could play a part in the shift to a more sustainable future

“That’s how capitalism can make change. That’s how fund management, as a major component of capitalism, can make the change happen.

“We believe that SDR is heading in the right direction and CCLA can play a very major part in that.”

Mind over matter

One of the things that CCLA does “incredibly well” is engagement on mental health, says Berens.

The Global Health Data Exchange estimates that 15% of the world’s working population experiences a mental disorder at any given time. This is not only bad for health, it is bad for business.

We have launched the Better World Global Equity fund, which is now about £290m in size. We’ve got it onto 34 platforms

On its website, CCLA says it believes the stark human and economic costs associated with poor mental health represent a substantial obstacle to companies’ success. Put simply, employers are losing billions of pounds because employees are less productive, off sick or leaving work altogether.

In 2021, CCLA piloted its corporate mental health benchmark, which ranks firms globally on what they do to help improve employees’ mental health. After a successful trial, the benchmark launched fully in May 2022, comparing the performance of the 100 largest UK-listed companies. It went global in the autumn of that year, focusing on the 200 largest listed firms.

Berens says: “This will allow us to engage with the companies that we invest in around particular aspects such as mental health.”

The mental health benchmark was impressive enough to attract the attention of Amazon.

“We invest in Amazon because it’s a great company,” says Berens. “We think the returns you can get from it are enough to justify why it should be in the portfolio. But there are aspects we are uncomfortable with.

I thought: how can I use my 30 years of client-facing experience to make a difference in the world?

“Despite its size, Amazon wants to engage with us on mental health. It is listening to an organisation such as CCLA — a very small investor relative to much more significant ones.”

The firm’s ambitions do not stop there. Berens says its focus will remain squarely on encouraging firms to move towards a more sustainable way of doing business.

AdviserAction

In November last year, the organisation spearheaded a first-of-its-kind membership organisation called AdviserAction.

The idea behind the scheme, whose founding members include Castlefield, ESG Accord, Fintel and Paradigm Norton, is to engage with listed companies to “drive sustainable outcomes”.

“We want to make AdviserAction work,” says Berens. “The execution of that will be really important.

I’ve always been involved on the client-facing side of asset management throughout my career

“As we start to demonstrate real-world change through it, and make a genuine difference through engagements, I think more and more people will want to join it. And then more advisers will look at CCLA.

“There’s a genuine demand out there not only for engagement with companies but to understand sustainability more.

“I would love CCLA to be the firm that advisers of whatever shape or size come to, not just from an investment perspective but from a business perspective, to understand sustainability and why it’s important.

“If CCLA becomes the brand that is synonymous with that in the advice community, I will be an extremely happy man.”

This article featured in the April 2024 edition of MM. 

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