Simon Evan-Cook is a Multi-Asset Fund Manager at Downing Fund Managers and writes the Fund of Funds Insider column for Citywire. He was previously a AAA-rated fund manager, winning multiple investment awards, including four prestigious ‘Fund Manager of the Year’ titles.

Why is corporate culture becoming more important to you when deciding who you allocate assets to?

The Downing Fox investment process operates on trust. We spend most of our research time establishing whether we can trust a manager or not, with a view to giving them the freedom and space to outperform once we do. The management firm’s culture is an important piece of this, as if the firm itself has a rotten culture, we’ll never be able to trust one of their funds.

In your view, why is it important to set a higher standard of stewardship and behaviour within the investment industry?

I believe it’s simply a matter of basic human decency. I can’t think of a better principle for life than “treat others as you wish to be treated”, and there’s no reason that “it’s business” excuses ignoring it.

Why did you decide to sit on the ACT Stewardship Council and what does it mean to you personally?

I genuinely think culture is important, and I believe ACT’s goals here are worthy. I wanted to help support them.