Commenting on the IA’s response to DWP’s ‘Pensions Investment Review: Unlocking the UK pensions market for growth’ and MHCLG’s ‘Local Government Pension Scheme (England and Wales): Fit for the future’, Jonathan Lipkin, Director of Policy, Strategy and Innovation at the Investment Association said:
“Through successful reform of our pensions system, we can improve investment outcomes for millions of pension scheme members and better channel productive capital into business and infrastructure, helping to boost economic growth. These consultations are an important stepping stone to achieve this.
“Building further scale into the workplace DC pensions market is important, but it is not a panacea. The UK pensions system will only be world class if it operates with sophisticated scale. This requires a focus first and foremost on strong investment governance, oversight and accountability, which will in turn facilitate diverse capital allocation across private and public markets. By simultaneously emphasising these factors within a highly competitive procurement environment, we can also shift the delivery culture in the DC market towards value rather than low cost.
“As the UK’s largest funded public sector pension scheme, the LGPS plays a critical role providing economic risk capital and sustainable, affordable pensions to its 6.4 million members. We support the overall rationale for LGPS consolidation and have supported its implementation since 2015. As with DC pensions, greater scale must be sophisticated, underpinned by an emphasis on strong governance, accountability and appropriate investment expertise to best deliver value.
“If managed correctly, the further consolidation of both DC and LGPS pension funds is a positive step towards a better-functioning market that invests in a wide range of assets and delivers strong returns. We look forward to continuing to work closely with government, industry and regulator to a create a pensions system that works for all.”
For further information, please contact:
Helen Ayres, Head of Communications: helen.ayres@theia.org
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4620
Ellen Hodgetts, Communications Manager: ellen.hodgetts@theia.org
T: +44 7548841289
IA Press Office: press@theia.org
About the Investment Association (IA):
- The IA champions UK investment management, supporting British savers, investors and businesses. Our 250 members manage £9.1 trillion of assets and the investment management industry supports 126,400 jobs across the UK.
- Our mission is to make investment better. Better for clients, so they achieve their financial goals. Better for companies, so they get the capital they need to grow. And better for the economy, so everyone prospers.
- Our purpose is to ensure investment managers are in the best possible position to:
- Build people’s resilience to financial adversity
- Help people achieve their financial aspirations
- Enable people to maintain a decent standard of living as they grow older
- Contribute to economic growth through the efficient allocation of capital.
- The money our members manage is in a wide variety of investment vehicles including authorised investment funds, pension funds and stocks and shares ISAs.
- The UK is the second largest investment management centre in the world, after the US and manages 37% of all assets managed in Europe.