UK pension fund assets hit £2 trillion for the first time at the end of December 2012, up from £1.9 trillion a year earlier, according to the latest figures from the Investment Management Association.
Local government pension schemes accounted for a larger proportion of assets in 2012, representing 6.9% of total mandates at £171 billion. This was up from £142 billion, 5.8% of total mandates, in 2011.
Corporate pension funds remained around the £1 trillion mark, although in-house occupational pension scheme assets under management grew by £3 billion during 2012.
The IMA’s annual report includes both defined contribution and defined benefit assets. Pension funds accounted for 51.6% of the UK institutional investment market by the end of December 2012, up from 50.3% at the end of 2011, with the insurance market shrinking by 2.9 percentage points. The remaining institutional assets – including public sector, non-profit, corporate and sub-advisory funds — totaled 14.1%, down from 12.6% at the end of 2011.
UK assets under management are split in favour of actively managed funds, which accounted for 78.1% of the market, with the remainder in passively-managed funds. The percentage in actively managed funds increased by 0.2 percentage points between December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2012.
