Twenty of Britain's largest pension providers and insurers are set to launch a new investor-led partnership, the Sterling 20, at the Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham tomorrow (21 October).

The initiative is intended to work with the government and City of London Corporation to channel the nation’s savings into key infrastructure and fast-growing businesses in key modern industrial strategy sectors like AI and fintech.

This builds on July's Mansion House Accord, which saw 17 providers, representing 90 per cent of active defined contribution scheme savers, commit to invest at least 5 per cent of their main default funds in UK private markets.

All 17 signatories of the accord, alongside annuity providers Rothesay and Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), and the Pension Protection Fund, have signed up to form the Sterling 20.

The group will work with the Office for Investment to drive growth and create jobs, suggesting that even a small shift towards investing in UK infrastructure would unlock billions.

In particular, the Office for Investment’s unique position as a bridge between government, investors, and local leaders is expected to allow it to match "transformational" investment opportunities with capital.

To support this, it will leverage its visibility across the UK landscape to help deliver a pipeline of opportunities that meet the Sterling 20 investment ambitions and drive growth in every region of the country.

The efforts of the initiative are already being seen, with Legal & General announcing a £2bn commitment by 2030 to help drive regional growth, while Nest announced plans to provide Schroders Capital with a £100m ringfenced fund for UK investments, as well as investing £40m to deliver gigabit-capable fibre broadcast to remote areas in Scotland and Northern England.

Commenting on the news, Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said: “This is about getting Britain building again – bringing our savings, our investors and our regions together to deliver the homes, infrastructure and industries that will drive growth and create good jobs in every corner of the country.

“Our country’s pension funds are some of the biggest in the world. When they invest in Britain, everyone benefits – from the construction worker on site, to the small business on the high street, to the saver seeing their pension grow.

"Sterling 20 shows what can be achieved when we all pull in the same direction to build a stronger economy that works for, and rewards, working people.”

Adding to this, Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, stated: “Our pensions system is one of the UK’s great strengths.

"We’re stepping up the pace of pension reform to support not just British pension savers but the British economy, supporting investment to deliver the growth of communities up and down the country.”

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