"And I think the way to interpret this desire from the FCA to, you know, completely understand what a fund's objective is and how the fund is meeting that objective is it's their way of getting comfortable that a fund will then provide that clarity for the end consumer."
She said her firm had learned a lot through the process, especially in terms of how to communicate sustainability objectives to clients without jargon and about explaining the 'why' behind the investment process.
"Something we found was that SDR didn't actually cause our fundamental investment process to change," she added.
"What it did prompt us to do was think a little bit more about why we chose to do things in a certain way, why we conduct our analysis in a certain way, and make that really clear and disclose that explicitly in the disclosures."
Stuart Burnside, head of product governance and ESG product at M&G Investments, said more industry engagement would lead to a better market down the line.
"What is the case with all of the FCA rules is there is a level below the rules that is not in the handbook, which is how they implement them, and how they discuss them, the checklists that the case officers have," he said.
"That is all stuff that you don't get to see as an outsider. But as you become more seasoned... you get a sense for those rules.
"With [SDR], because it's very new, you don't yet know that, unless you've suddenly solved it. So you're starting to have to navigate that now."
He said he's had lots of discussions with the FCA since first handing in his application in April and observed that while the rules had stayed the same, the interpretations had started to change.
These industry engagements will ultimately lead to a more workable environment for more funds, leading to more label authorisations, he said.
carmen.reichman@ft.com
