Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he had met industry leaders to discuss how to achieve better returns for pension savers „while stimulating growth in the economy”.
Posting on Twitter on Wednesday, the chancellor said: „UK pension pots are the largest in Europe, and the second largest in the world, at £2.5 trillion.
“But international pension funds are currently using investments in UK companies with higher growth than UK pension funds.
„So today I met with industry leaders to discuss how to secure better returns for UK pension savers, while boosting growth in the economy.”
In 2021 former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and then chancellor Rishi Sunak urged large institutional investors to consider long-term investments in UK assets as the economy recovers following the coronavirus pandemic.
At the time they wrote: „We need an investment big bang to unlock the hundreds of billions of pounds in UK institutional investors and use them to fuel the UK’s recovery.”
Jason Hollands, managing director of Bestinvest through Evelyn Partners, said: „The UK is a vibrant market for start-ups, but such businesses are invariably acquired by large, often foreign companies, rather than being scaled up as domestic giants. Investors such as pension schemes and insurance funds are too conservative to put money behind them.
UK is a vibrant market for start-ups
As much as more investment in these areas would be desirable for the UK economy, Mr Hollands said, „Private pension funds are not in the piggy bank to achieve the government’s policy objectives, their aim is to get them a decent pension”. Members”.
He suggested that the chancellor should rely on more incentives „rather than a stick to force the hand of pension plans.”
Mr Hollands added: „The proportion of pension fund money invested in UK companies has been falling over the years for a number of reasons, including changes in accounting standards, which have made old-style defined benefit (DB) pensions too expensive for businesses to continue, and this has made de-risking a key priority.”
„Oddany rozwiązywacz problemów. Przyjazny hipsterom praktykant bekonu. Miłośnik kawy. Nieuleczalny introwertyk. Student.