It was all smiles in central London earlier this week as senior executives and government officials met to sign the Mansion House Accord, writes Pensions Expert editor Nick Reeve.
The voluntary agreement from 17 pension providers will see them invest at least 10% of default DC fund assets in private markets by 2030, with at least half of that allocated domestically.
Behind the handshakes and happy faces, however, there must be some tension. It’s widely accepted that the government wanted to force minimum levels of UK investment onto pension funds, and some people seem to think this is still not off the table.
As signatories made clear this week, much depends on the government’s ability to nurture a strong pipeline of investable assets. The role of the National Wealth Fund and the implementation of the government’s new industrial strategy will be crucial, as the Finance Innovation Lab’s Jesse Griffiths told the Work and Pensions Committee on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, those preparing for dashboards should read the Pensions Dashboards Programme’s latest progress update. Large providers and technology companies are making good progress with connections but it’s already evident that not everyone will hit their allocated deadline.
Fortunately, regulators are unlikely to intervene if they are confident that pension schemes are making good progress towards being connected. This week, the Pensions Administration Standards Association published guidance for schemes with multiple administrators to help them deal with any issues regarding missed deadlines.
And, of course, we are all anticipating the big one. The Pension Schemes Bill is expected “imminently”, according to one press release that hit my inbox today, so anyone hoping for a quiet summer is almost certain to be disappointed.
It’s no wonder, then, that the Local Government Pension Scheme is lobbying for more time to deal with the government’s demands around pooling. With its own regulatory and administrative projects ongoing, the system has a huge to-do list already.
With that in mind, we should probably all get some sun and recharge the batteries while we can.
Nick Reeve is editor of Pensions Expert.
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