Independence, declared in writing.

1. Scope

This policy applies to every member of CBM editorial staff, every freelance contributor commissioned by a CBM title, and every external columnist, judge or partner whose name appears under a CBM masthead. It applies most strictly to Fund Manager Today, our title for institutional asset and fund managers, where readers act directly on what we publish.

2. What we mean by a conflict

A conflict of interest exists, or might reasonably be perceived to exist, where a writer, editor or contributor has:

• A financial interest in the subject of a story — including shares, bonds, derivatives, fund holdings or any direct economic exposure.
• A professional relationship with the subject — current or recent client, advisory, consultancy, board or trustee role.
• A personal relationship with the subject — close family, partner, household member or close personal friend.
• A commercial relationship on the CBM side — the subject is an advertiser, awards sponsor or contract-publishing client of CBM.
• Receipt of a gift, hospitality or press trip from the subject above an agreed de minimis threshold.

3. Financial-markets coverage (Fund Manager Today)

Journalists writing for Fund Manager Today are subject to additional rules reflecting the influence the title carries with institutional investors:

• They may not deal in individual UK or overseas-listed equities or single-issuer fixed-income instruments they cover.
• They must disclose all material personal holdings (including those held in self-invested pensions, ISAs and family member accounts they materially benefit from) to the FMT editor on joining and annually thereafter.
• Where a writer holds a fund-of-funds, an index-tracking ETF or any pooled product they are likely to write about, this is disclosed inline in the relevant article.
• Short-term trading of any holding in the topical sector during the 30 days surrounding publication of a related piece is prohibited.

4. Gifts, hospitality & press trips

CBM journalists may accept reasonable working hospitality (a coffee, a briefing lunch, an industry-rate conference pass) where it relates directly to the job. Gifts above a nominal value (the threshold is set internally at £75 / $100) are declared, returned or donated. Press trips and review trips are accepted where they enable reporting that could not otherwise be done; the trip is disclosed in any resulting piece, and editorial independence over the resulting copy is non-negotiable.

For destination, hotel and product reviews on Travelling For Business, EV Powered and Electric Home, hosted trips and review loans are clearly disclosed in the published piece.

5. How we manage conflicts

Conflicts are managed through a hierarchy of responses, the choice depending on materiality:

1. Recusal — the writer or editor steps off the story and another colleague takes it on. This is the default response to any direct financial or personal conflict.
2. Transparent disclosure — where the conflict is minor and the reader can fairly assess the writer’s independence with that knowledge, a disclosure footnote is added to the piece. Disclosure is never a substitute for recusal where the conflict is material.
3. Editorial review — where neither recusal nor disclosure is straightforward, the editor of the relevant title and a CBM group editor jointly decide the handling.
4. Decline to publish — where the conflict cannot be reasonably mitigated, the story is not run.

6. Editorial & commercial separation

CBM's commercial team (advertising, branded content, awards sponsorship, contract publishing) operates separately from its editorial teams. Advertisers, awards sponsors and contract-publishing clients have no influence over editorial coverage. Sponsored content is clearly labelled as such (see our Editorial Standards) and is not produced by the same writers as the editorial coverage it sits alongside.

An advertiser, sponsor or client may receive editorial coverage on its merits, in which case the commercial relationship is disclosed in the published piece.

7. External columnists, contributors & awards judges

Bylined columnists, op-ed contributors and awards judges declare any material relationship that could reasonably be perceived to influence the work they produce or the entries they judge. Awards judges with a relationship to an entered company recuse from judging that category. Columnists with a paid relationship to a topic disclose it within the piece.

8. How to raise a concern

If you believe a CBM piece carries an undisclosed conflict, please write to editorial@cbmeg.co.uk or, for matters affecting financial-markets coverage, to fmt@cbmeg.co.uk. We will investigate and respond within 28 days under our wider complaints procedure.