RPMI Railpen has collaborated with NEST to launch a new report providing insights on cyber security for pension investments.  
 
In 2018, The Pensions Regulator produced guidance for trustees on cyber security principles for pension schemes. While this guidance provided advice on building a scheme’s cyber resilience, to date no equivalent advice has been provided to trustees looking to incorporate cyber security into their investment process.  
 
Co-authored by RPMI Railpen and NEST with input from Brunel Pension Partnership, the new report “Why UK pension funds should consider cyber and data security in their investment approach” presents case studies from leading UK pension funds and shows how they are currently addressing the topic. 
 
Pension funds are encouraged to: 

• consider the risks as part of pre-investment due diligence
• engage portfolio companies as an active owner
• reflect cyber security in voting
• promote research and understanding on the topic, and
• hold fund managers to account  

Commenting on the launch, Richard Williams, CIO, RPMI Railpen, said: "Trustees need to acknowledge that it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when' their investee companies will face a serious cyber security breach. Our publication provides a toolkit for pension scheme trustees. Companies should be ready for questions from investors, and pension funds need to start raising the topic with their managers.
 
In 2015, organisations globally spent $84 billion on cyber security, an amount that analysts expect to grow to $125 billion by 2020. The report highlights a project commissioned by the National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), to develop a cyber-security awareness index, which will be freely available and published much like the FTSE indices. The index stands to bring much- needed transparency to the cyber security awareness of UK companies. 
 
Read the report here.