Pensions Minister, Emma Reynolds, has said there is “no really good reason” why UK pension funds should not be investing in the UK economy, when there are lots of other pension funds that are.

Speaking at the launch of longevity think-tank Phoenix Insights’ latest report, A roadmap to adequate retirement incomes for all, Reynolds stated that the “two big things” the government is looking at are retirement adequacy, “so boosting the amount of income people are going to get in their retirement”, and second, “making sure that we drive the investment from our pension funds into UK growth”.

“We know” she added, “that there are lots of other pension funds that are invested in our economy, so there is no really good reason not to be doing so”.

The minister also called on the industry for its ideas on how to help government meet these objectives: “Why is it that there is such a low percentage of UK pension investment going into both listed and unlisted equities in the UK, whereas other countries manage to get their pension funds to invest in their economy?

"We can’t be that unattractive in terms of our investment projects as we have lots of other pension schemes investing in all sorts of things in the UK.

“We want your ideas and want to know how we can change things. This is a substantial opportunity for reform, we are after some big ideas, but we have got to change the way things work and there is a real opportunity here to do that.”

Reynolds also highlighted the importance of looking at other jurisdictions when it comes to addressing the shortfalls in the UK’s current pension system.

“Having worked abroad, I am very interested in international examples. I am not saying we are going to copy them, but I am interested in what they are doing in Australia in terms of contribution rates; in the Canadian way of doing things; and the Dutch way of doing things,” she said.

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