Chancellor’s announcement won’t go far enough to persuade investors to ‘Buy British’ - Stephen Budge, LCP

Commenting on the Chancellor’s announcement of a £320 million plan to drive innovation and unlock the first tranche of investment from his Mansion House Reforms, Stephen Budge, Partner at LCP, said: “It is great to see the drive by the Chancellor and the British Business Bank seeking to enable DC investment into exciting investment opportunities. Without this focus, we wouldn’t be at this watershed moment of driving greater private market investment for DC members.

“However, we do not believe this goes far enough to persuade investors to ‘Buy British’, rather than investing more globally as trustees are obligated to do. LIFTS was supposed to create the opportunity to dial up the investment case for UK investment as well as unlock the opportunity. However, without any tax benefits or fee incentives, we simply do not see how pension schemes will meet the call to invest in UK opportunities to the extent the Chancellor and wider government are looking for.

“Having placed around £1bn of private market investment through client investment strategies over the last 12 months, we know there is significant interest and willingness amongst trustees to commit the time and energy to invest in these significantly more complex investment opportunities – all seeking to improve the outlook for DC pension savers.

“We are concerned that the huge amount of work to get these initiatives off of the ground will be met with indifference by trustees and the broader industry. It is worth remembering the previous opportunities, such as the Pension Infrastructure Platform (PIP), that never materialised the support that was predicted. Without a greater level of government support to drive industry commitment, we are concerned that these bold and positive developments will see a similar fate to PIP.”