(Bloomberg) — The Treasury will require pensions funds to publicly disclose how much they invest in UK businesses, part of government efforts to spur them to boost investments in UK assets.
Defined contribution pension pots will be required to make the disclosures by 2027, the Treasury said in a statement. Performance data will also need to be compared against competitors, including two or more managing at least £10 billion ($12.6 billion) in assets.
Underperforming funds won’t be allowed to take on new business from employers, with the Pensions Regulator and Financial Conduct Authority having “a full range of intervention powers,” according to the statement.
“British pension funds appear to contribute less to the UK economy than international counterparts do as they invest less in our domestic businesses,” Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said in the statement. “These requirements will help focus minds on how to improve overall returns and outcomes for savers.”
Hunt is trying to encourage pension funds to deploy more of their capital in a way that boosts Britain’s economy, as the government seeks to increase growth in the wake of a recession at the tail end of 2023 and ahead of an election expected later this year. Nevertheless, some in the pensions industry have resisted his proposals, first reported by Bloomberg, saying they risked duplicating existing rules on reporting and that it isn’t for the government to decide how funds allocate their assets.
UK pension funds have been reducing their exposure to British equities over the past 25 years, withdrawing £400 billion of demand over that period, according to a report last year by the New Financial think tank. Since 2000, the share of the UK stock market owned by UK pensions and insurance companies has fallen to 4% from 39%, the report said.
The shift in pension fund investment has arguably been one of the contributors to the weakness of the UK equity market, which has seen continued outflows in recent years. Policymakers are concerned that Britain’s weak equity market is linked to low investment rates and the country’s sluggish productivity growth.
Read More: Hunt Weighs Plan to Spur Pension Pots to Invest in UK Assets
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