The author is an independent analyst and a contributing editor of the Financial Times With the third-largest funded pension system in the world, the UK is financial asset-rich. But it is also investment poor. Despite £2.9tn of pension assets, the level of actual money put to work in areas like infrastructure, building and research and development is woeful.
funds’ collective economies of scale by obliging them to join eight pools — firms that the pension funds themselves would own, and which would act to build scale and purchasing power for their members. The pooling of the companies was envisaged — among other things — as a way to strike better fee deals and provide centralised external investment manager oversight. But according to a government consultation, less than half of assets have so far been pooled.