The so-called Mansion House Reforms come as part of plans launched last year to take advantage of Britain's freedom to write its own financial rules after leaving the European Union.The finance ministry believes that some of the billions of pounds at pension funds which are currently invested in safe assets such as government bonds would offer better returns for savers if they were invested in unlisted start-ups.
One aim is to channel pensions cash into fledgling fintech, life science and other growth companies - but not infrastructure or property - so they can grow in scale and list in Britain, rather than in New York as chip designer ARM has done. Starting over the next 12 months, nine pension firms operating in Britain have agreed a voluntary compact to invest 5% of funds in growth companies by 2030.