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Should pension funds invest more in private assets? Not according to government’s own gloomy report

Funds that invest more in UK private assets might end up getting worse returns

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is doubling down on venture capital and infrastructure, but the evidence should worry trustees
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is doubling down on venture capital and infrastructure, but the evidence should worry trustees Photo Illustration: Leon Neal/Getty Images

There was one slight problem with Rachel Reeves’s announcement in her Mansion House speech that the “biggest pension reform in decades” was coming — the same evening, the government quietly released a study that appeared to undermine her entire strategy.

Labour’s flagship policy, largely inherited from the Tories, is to encourage pension funds to invest more in UK venture capital and infrastructure. This would be a win-win, it is said, boosting economic growth as well as increasing returns to savers.

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