From this week, SEI Investments, the US multi-management firm, will be able to offer a real alternative to the way UK pension funds are managed. SEI sees itself as a business-to-business outsourcing solution that will give companies a similar option for running the pension fund that they have for other non-core activities. SEI will initially be talking directly both to funds and to the companies themselves.

Joseph Ujobai, SEI's London-based chief, says: 'Globally, we are finding that senior management wants to focus more on their business and cannot afford to spend sufficient time on the management of their pension fund, despite the fact that these plans are often worth more than the value of the company itself.'