A 0.5 per cent pension shift could secure Britain’s tech supremacy Opinion To solve the UK’s struggle to scale its world-class startups, we must unlock the nation’s vast pension funds for venture capital investment to fuel domestic growth and ensure technological sovereignty, says Dame Anne Glover This week, as leaders gather at Mansion House to celebrate British innovation, we must confront a hard truth: the UK is [...]
Rachel Reeves to set ‘binding’ pensions allocations in megafunds launch Economics Rachel Reeves has confirmed plans to set “binding” allocations in pension funds as the government prepares for the launch of “megafunds” to encourage fresh investment into UK infrastructure and businesses. The Treasury said it would “take a reserve power” in the upcoming Pension Schemes Bill “to set binding asset allocation targets,” a move it said [...]
Week in Business: Small glass of champagne for Reeves? Video There was some welcome economic growth in Q1 but it's in the rear view mirror; is there any on the horizon?
‘Cautious welcome’: City bigwigs react to Mansion House Accord May 14, 2025 City analysts and politicians have been probing the ramifications of the Mansion House Accord, a new deal spearheaded by the government that aims to encourage more diverse investments by pension funds. The accord, which was signed by seventeen major pension funds yesterday, is a voluntary commitment to allocate ten per cent of funds to private [...]
Pension funds sign Mansion House Accord in £50bn boost to UK May 13, 2025 The UK economy could be about to receive a £50bn cash injection after Britain’s biggest pension funds pledged to redirect resources into private markets in a major policy shift. The voluntary, non-binding agreement by the funds, dubbed the Mansion House Accord, will see increased investment into major infrastructure projects as well as greater venture capital [...]
Scottish Widows abandons Mansion House pension funds agreement May 13, 2025 One of the UK’s largest pension funds has ditched a key agreement seen as crucial to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ push to drive growth. Scottish Widows has not signed up to the second iteration of the Mansion House Compact, despite having thrown its weight behind an earlier version of the plans. The original pact saw 11 [...]
Pension funds that don’t back UK assets should be named and shamed, Phoenix boss says May 12, 2025 Pension funds that don’t invest in UK assets should be named and shamed, the architect of the Mansion House Compact has said, as he called for “bold” action to address problems in London’s capital markets. Sir Nicholas Lyons, chairman of Phoenix Group, said transparency was the best way to catalyse more investment into the UK [...]
Mercer: Pension funds need better pick of UK investments for key deal to work May 1, 2025 The government’s proposed pensions deal will not boost growth unless better UK investment opportunities are put on offer, the boss of one of Britain’s biggest funds has warned. In an interview with City AM, Benoit Hudon suggested a stronger pipeline of UK assets was needed as current options did not deliver good enough returns for [...]
Fresh row over plan to mandate pension fund investments April 30, 2025 A row has erupted over reports the government is plotting to set mandates on pension fund allocations, while the chief architect of the so-called Mansion House reforms – which aimed to encourage the deployment of pension fund assets into unlisted equities – has distanced himself from the move. Pension bosses are understood to have been [...]
UK equity markets could do with some shock therapy February 20, 2025 My favourite explanation as to why UK pension funds have shrunk their investments in UK equities from around 50 per cent in the 1990s to a paltry 3 per cent today was offered to me recently by one of the City’s veteran fund managers; “You can trace it all back to the day that crook [...]