Hundreds of billions of pounds could be pulled from stock markets in the coming months as the UK's pension schemes switch to so-called liability-driven investment strategies. Investment consultancy Mercer estimates that these may double to 40% of all funds within a year.

Mercer's annual survey of schemes' asset allocation, which covered 849 UK schemes with total assets of €379bn (£265bn), found that the number of funds adopting a liability-driven investment strategy in some form looks set to rise sharply as such strategies become more readily accessible.