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
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
BPA transactions hit record number in 2024
298 bulk purchase annuity transactions were completed in 2024, an increase from 227 in 2023
SSGA launches opt-in sustainability stewardship service
New service is available globally to institutional separately-managed accounts that ‘prioritise achieving sustainability outcomes’
UK pension funds brace for surge in member enquiries as dashboard rollout begins
WTW polled 68 pension schemes on challenges expected ahead of the pensions dashboard launch
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
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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
BPA transactions hit record number in 2024
298 bulk purchase annuity transactions were completed in 2024, an increase from 227 in 2023
SSGA launches opt-in sustainability stewardship service
New service is available globally to institutional separately-managed accounts that ‘prioritise achieving sustainability outcomes’
UK pension funds brace for surge in member enquiries as dashboard rollout begins
WTW polled 68 pension schemes on challenges expected ahead of the pensions dashboard launch
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