UK: Pensions and Investment News and Analysis
Britain’s new Labour government has promised a review of pensions but immediately got itself into hot political water by announcing cuts to a winter heating allowance for retirees. In fact, the priorities of the new chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves and pensions minister Emma Reynolds, align very strongly with the policies of the previous Conservative administration, which aimed to boost growth by unlocking investment in the UK and making pension funds more efficient – a series of policies collectively known as the Mansion House reforms. For its part, the pensions sector wants the government to focus on consolidation and to increase the minimum contributions under the otherwise successful auto-enrolment system. A new funding code for the sizeable DB pension sector was set to come into force this autumn but transfers of DB pension assets to insurers via bulk annuities or full buyouts continue apace.
Pension Funds in the UK - Country Report
UK Country Report 2024: Is buyout still the gold standard for pension funds?
Improved funding positions mean more DB schemes are considering run-on rather than off-loading their liabilities
TOP UK PENSION FUNDS 2024
Pension fund/entity | Assets (€’000)
- Universities Superannuation Scheme | 91,362,766
- Rothesay Life | 70,498,261
- Pension Insurance Corporation | 54,006,590
- NEST | 46,870,083
- BT Group plc | 42,725,412
©IPE Research; View the Top 1000 European Pensions Funds 2024 for a comprehensive market overview
Wales Pension Partnership launches £25bn pooled investment company
The company will consolidate assets of 22 local authority pension funds representing 412,000 members
IPE UK Briefing: Green light to six ‘fit-for-the-future’ pitches from investment pools
Plus: Pension dashboards, small post consolidator and multi-employer CDC
UK’s TPT to launch collective defined contribution pension fund
Authorisation for the multi-employer CDC fund is expected by the end of 2026, with TPT also planning bespoke single-employer CDC schemes for larger businesses
Cancer Research UK pension fund in £280m buy-in with Standard Life
Th fund worked closely with Standard Life to meet its de-risking objectives and secure the buy-in deal through a ‘bespoke’ offering
UK market at ‘inflection point’ for tackling systemic risks, says report
But panellist describes systemic risk as another term that is ‘bandied about’ without being clearly understood
TOP MANAGERS: UK INSTITUTIONAL ASSETS
Company | Assets (€m)
- Legal & General Investment Mngt. | 817,085
- BlackRock | 744,072
- Insight Investment | 514,576
- Abrdn | 228,230
- Schroders Investment Management | 219,358
- Aviva Investors | 216,445
- State Street Global Advisors | 209,020**
- JPMorgan Asset Management | 116,988*
- Goldman Sachs Asset Management | 75,557***
- M&G Investment Management | 61,013****
As at 31.12.23, *29.2.24, **31.3.24, ***09.4.24, ****30.6.23
©IPE Research; Sign up to IPE Profesional to see all the data in the latest country report
IPE BEST PENSION FUND IN THE UK AWARD WINNERS
- 2023 - Pension Protection Fund
- 2022 - Greater Manchester Pension Fund | Pension Protection Fund
- 2021 - BTPS
- 2020 - Environment Agency Pension Fund
- 2019 - Pension Protection Fund
Interviews
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Denmark’s pension funds offer a template for an innovative defence investments play
The tone of Europe’s political debate on defence expenditure has shifted markedly this year. And as former Netherlands defence minister Kajsa Ollongren, put it in a Chatham House Q&A in early March: “The mindset should be ‘war economy’.”
Wales Pension Partnership launches £25bn pooled investment company
The company will consolidate assets of 22 local authority pension funds representing 412,000 members
IPE UK Briefing: Green light to six ‘fit-for-the-future’ pitches from investment pools
Plus: Pension dashboards, small post consolidator and multi-employer CDC
UK’s TPT to launch collective defined contribution pension fund
Authorisation for the multi-employer CDC fund is expected by the end of 2026, with TPT also planning bespoke single-employer CDC schemes for larger businesses
Cancer Research UK pension fund in £280m buy-in with Standard Life
Th fund worked closely with Standard Life to meet its de-risking objectives and secure the buy-in deal through a ‘bespoke’ offering
UK market at ‘inflection point’ for tackling systemic risks, says report
But panellist describes systemic risk as another term that is ‘bandied about’ without being clearly understood
British Growth Partnership takes first step with regulatory nod for third-party arm
The British Growth Partnership creation was announced at the International Investment Summit in October 2024
Brunel Pension Partnership exceeds pooling aims as it explores options
The investment pool has been told to merge with another as UK government rejects its proposed business case
Prudential Regulation Authority puts funded reinsurance use high on agenda
Regulator to increase transparency of insurer life stress test by publishing both sector-wide and firm-specific stress test results for largest UK life insurers
LGPS Central launches stewardship service to ease governance burden
Mandate announced by the pool in January 2025
Bulk purchase annuity transactions hit record number in 2024
298 bulk purchase annuity transactions were completed in 2024, an increase from 227 in 2023
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