The UK’s contingent of fiduciary fund managers — firms that specialise in investing pension schemes’ money — had their performance completely upended by Covid-19, as the best-performing firms of 2019 were sent into a tailspin in the first quarter of the year.

Fiduciary managers, who oversee around £170bn of UK retirement funds, are recruited by pension scheme trustees to run the day-to-day management of their portfolios and are accountable for the results. Leading firms offering the service include the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, as well as the three biggest investment consultants, Aon, Mercer and Willis Towers Watson.