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Latest on private markets
FCA warns private market firms over conflicts of interest
The Financial Conduct Authority has identified weaknesses in how private market firms manage conflicts of interest, warning that controls are failing to keep pace with increasingly complex business models.
Mansion House: DC providers make progress with UK holdings hitting £11bn
The 17 signatories to the Mansion House Accord have allocated 6.6% of total DC growth-phase assets to private markets as of 31 December 2025, according to new data.
UK has an ‘investability problem’, not a pension capital problem
Policymakers must focus on creating attractive investment opportunities rather than setting allocation targets if they want to unlock pension capital for UK private markets, according to PMI chair Ruston Smith.
Lack of opportunities still an issue in private markets, says TPR
Stakeholders surveyed by the regulator identified a lack of investable UK opportunities with the right characteristics as a critical barrier to delivering the ambitions of the Mansion House Accord.
Turning DC savings into retirement income
How can DC schemes support members up to and throughout their retirement? At a recent Pensions Expert roundtable, scheme representatives discussed guided retirement, the limits of member engagement, and whether government reforms leave enough room for different approaches.
Read the full discussion here.
(Sponsored by T. Rowe Price)
Railpen: The UK has the ideas, now it has the capital to back UK scale-up businesses
Railpen’s Anna Rule explains how the industry-wide pension scheme and other institutions plan to invest in UK scale-up businesses following the announcement of a dedicated fund backed by the British Business Bank.
Climate, liquidity, AI: What investment committees should be thinking about
With two-thirds of 2026 behind us, Pensions Expert asks investment consultants for the key risks and opportunities that should be on trustees’ agendas going into the autumn.
Buying British: Railpen, Nest, LGPS pools exploring UK ‘scale up’ fund
Leading investment institutions are in talks with the British Business Bank and the Office for Investment about the creation of a £1bn fund to drive investment into domestic companies seeking scale-up capital.
Now Pensions on social housing and private markets investing
Martyn James, director of investment at Now Pensions, explains how the £7.1bn master trust is allocating to affordable and social housing as part of its private markets strategy.
Railpen grows central London property footprint with Smithfield project
The £34bn pension fund has secured planning consent to redevelop a central London site into a large multi-use property site as part of a wider aim to invest in high-quality commercial real estate.
Nest enters venture capital market with an eye on £1bn allocation
The £68bn master trust is seeking to formalise its four-year-old venture capital and growth equity investment strategy through an extension of its partnership with Schroders.
Fee pressure hitting private markets managers as competition heightens
The cost of investing in private markets may be falling amid intense competition for funding and recent performance difficulties, according to new research.
UK government launches Supers Unit to attract Australian pension investment
Government launches new Supers Unit to attract Australian pension fund investment
Nest awards £450m direct lending mandate amid private markets push
The mandate will see Nest deploy capital over “multiple years”, as it aims to allocate as much as 30% of its assets to private markets by 2030.
DC schemes back British Business Bank’s £200m venture capital fund
Aegon and the Natwest Cushon master trust have finalised investments in the British Growth Partnership Fund, contributing to a £200m capital raise for the venture capital vehicle.
USS steps up residential push with stake in private credit manager Venn Partners
The UK’s largest pension fund intends to invest more in the UK residential property sector, with the acquisition following two other significant lending projects.
How alts and active management aid Australian pension outperformance
With Australia’s superannuation system repeatedly held up as a model for UK defined contribution pension provision, a new study shows the impact of diversification into private markets and the use of active management models.
Government bodies advocate ‘significant’ opportunity in venture capital
Senior representatives from the Office for Investment, the British Business Bank, and the National Wealth Fund sought to flesh out the investment narrative and explain why pension funds should be confident about investing in UK private markets.
Scottish Widows buys into private markets through new master trust strategies
The master trust provider has launched two new investment portfolios with exposure to private markets through bespoke long-term asset funds.
LGPS Central hires Dowdall to lead local investment drive
LGPS Central, one of the asset pooling companies for the Local Government Pension Scheme, has named Paddy Dowdall as investment director for local investment.
Global investment outlook: Navigating a complex landscape
Pensions Expert asked consultants and asset managers for their views on the continued dominance of US equities in investment portfolios, how to mitigate geopolitical risks, and whether private markets have been overdone.
Outlook 2026: How pension schemes can support the UK economy
Pensions Expert explores the opportunities and challenges for investors seeking to increase their domestic allocations in 2026, with the help of master trusts and asset managers.
Railpen: The UK needs a scale-up fund to compete globally
Julia Diez, head of UK productive assets at Railpen, calls for a UK-wide investment initiative to support pension schemes in investing in innovative, growing companies close to home.
Private markets dominate manager searches as high demand continues
Bfinance report shows strong institutional appetite for direct lending and value-add real estate, while private equity activity has stalled.
In Depth: Regulators begin work on private markets as interest grows
The Pensions Regulator and the Bank of England are launching separate exploratory exercises focusing on private markets, as pension scheme interest grows and the government continues to push for more domestic allocations.
PMI warns trustees to upskill as private market allocations surge
In its latest private markets guide, the Pensions Management Institute says allocations to these asset classes have almost tripled since 2019.
British Business Bank confirms pension investors in £200m first fund
The £3.7bn NatWest Cushon master trust is among the confirmed backers of British Growth Partnership Fund I, targeting investment in high-growth UK companies, the British Business Bank has announced.
UK’s largest pension funds back regional investment drive through ‘Sterling 20’
The move builds on the Mansion House Accord agreed in July, and will be launched at the government’s inaugural Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham.
Private Assets in Focus: What UK Pension Schemes Are Thinking
To ‘take the temperature’ of the industry as it prepares for significant changes, Pensions Expert, in partnership with CACEIS, surveyed representatives from across the pensions sector on private assets and consolidation.