Johnson and Sunak urge UK pensions to support riskier investments | Pension industry



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Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to urge UK pension plans to support Britain’s ‘entrepreneurship’ with billions of pounds in savings funds to fuel post-pandemic economic recovery in post to investment bosses.

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor will launch a joint call to action on Thursday aimed at “triggering a big bang of investment” which “would unlock the hundreds of billions of pounds in British institutions”.

Citing the success of the long-term investment programs of Australian and Canadian pension plans, Sunak and Johnson will say British retirees are missing out on “better pensions” after investors focused too much on the returns of publicly traded companies.

In a letter to institutions which one critic said was little more than ‘hot air’, the pair will say they would prefer UK investors to broaden their horizons and direct more of their savings to investment projects. research higher risk and new startups to support the government’s ‘leveling’ agenda and ‘UK assets that require longer term investment’.

“It’s time we recognized the quality that other countries see in the UK and back each other by investing more money in the businesses and infrastructure that will drive growth and prosperity across our country,” said they declared.

“We want to see UK savers benefit from the fruits of UK ingenuity and enterprise, have the opportunity to support UK successes and achieve higher returns and better pensions.”

Some industry executives said they recognized the need for pension funds to increase the proportion of longer-term investments, although they said the government should speed up plans to change the regulations of the city ​​before that happened.

Chris Cummings, chief executive of the Investment Association, said the government’s initiative “would require a new partnership between regulators and industry to ensure pension funds and retail investors have access to funds. transparent, well managed and good value for money “.

Critics have warned the pension plans will become riskier and more expensive to run and accused the prime minister of not understanding how they work.

John Ralfe, an independent retirement consultant, said: “That’s 90% of the Prime Minister’s hot air.

“Defined benefit pension plans need assets that generate a guaranteed inflation-linked return to pay for guaranteed pensions. Most of the things the PM hits the drum for don’t.

“For automatic enrollment defined contribution pensions, investments should be as transparent as possible and as cheap as possible. Again, most of the stuff pushed here doesn’t do that.

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The Treasury said it would support an easing of fund management fees to encourage investment managers to assess risky investments and longer-term projects as part of a broader overhaul of regulatory investment rules. strict.

The letter read: “The UK economy has a rich pool of assets ripe for long-term investment and supported by a leading research sector, a commitment to the green technologies of the future and UK entrepreneurship. . “

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