The world’s biggest asset managers have embarked on a hiring spree across their stewardship and sustainable investing teams, as fund houses tap into growing demand for environmental, social and governance investing. The number of people in the stewardship teams of the leading fund houses have almost doubled between 2017 and 2020, according to data compiled by the Financial Times. Stewardship teams typically oversee discussions on issues from executive pay to environmental disclosures. The figures show that big asset managers have an average of 21 people working in stewardship, although this varies significantly across the sector from 47 at the investment giant BlackRock, which has $7.4 trillion in assets under management, to just three at Northern Trust Asset Management, part of the US custody bank. Figures from research company Cerulli Associates show that more than two-thirds of investors under 30 prefer their investments to have a positive social or environmental impact.

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Financial Times