LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Insurance broker Aon said on Wednesday it will join the “Mansion House Compact” of companies committed to channelling more money from their direct contribution (DC) pension schemes into unlisted companies by 2030 to boost growth.
The grouping, which already included Aviva, Legal & General and seven other pension firms, was announced in July by Britain’s finance minister Jeremy Hunt to voluntarily invest 50 billion pounds ($60.9 billion).
“We are fully supportive of what the Mansion House Compact is looking to achieve, and we believe that this initiative is right for Aon’s UK DC solutions which have close to 7 billion pounds of assets under management and nearly 180,000 members – who are always our greatest priority,” Aon UK CEO Julie Page said in a statement.
Hunt will address a gathering of pension industry officials in London’s financial district on Wednesday to reinforce the need for collective action from the industry.
“The pensions summit is a critical moment to assess the progress of the Compact ahead of the Autumn Statement as well as addressing the barriers to implementing this initiative more widely,” said Chris Hayward, policy chair of the City of London Corporation, which administers the financial district.
Only 1% of Britain’s 4.6 trillion pounds of pensions and insurance assets is invested in unlisted companies, compared with upwards of 6% in Australia.
($1 = 0.8211 pounds)
Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by David Evans
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