On the eve of the Budget, Darius McDermott (pictured), managing director, Chelsea Financial Services is calling on the Chancellor to mandate pension funds to invest more of members’ savings in UK-listed companies. But will the Chancellor heed the call?
Given the backdrop of continued diminishing support for UK markets by Britain’s pension money managers, McDermott said:
“UK pension funds exposure to British equities has been dramatically dwindling over the past 25 years. Furthermore, the Investment Association figures show that UK equity sectors have been in redemption for many years.
“The sad reality is the marginal buyer of UK equities has gone since the Brexit vote. We now contribute far less to the UK economy than international counterparts do to their own domestic markets. The Chancellor now needs to encourage pension funds to deploy more of their capital in a way that boosts Britain’s economy and its markets – getting pension funds to allocate more capital to British companies is a great way to start.
McDermott also said that while US stock markets power on, the unloved UK stock market continues to lag. Microsoft and Apple are now both worth more than the entire FTSE 100. It is time to re-think how we stimulate the FTSE.
“Institutions managing retirement money have been moving their investments away from UK stocks for decades. This has hurt the UK’s stock market because more money is leaving than coming in. We’d like pension managers to put more money into UK companies and tell us more about where they’re investing all over the world.”
