Executives from two London pension funds are calling on asset owners to consider cybersecurity risk as financially material for fund investments.
The £8 billion ($10 billion) defined contribution multiemployer National Employment Savings Trust and the £25 billion defined benefit RPMI Railpen issued the plea in a report Wednesday.
With 2018 cyber breaches at British Airways PLC set to cost the firm a potential total of $729 million in fines and lawsuits and another at Facebook Inc., which is costing the firm billions of dollars in fines across the globe and $119 billion loss in a market value, companies held by investors could be collectively spending $90 trillion by 2030, the report said.
With one-third of U.K. businesses identified cybersecurity breaches or attacks in the last year, the two London funds want fellow investors to look at the cyberrisks as part of their pre-investment due diligence and are encouraging engagement efforts and cybersecurity concerns in voting at annual general meetings.
“Cyberattacks can seriously undermine the performance of a company, making what would seem an ideal investment opportunity turn into a costly mistake,” NEST CIO Mark Fawcett said…
