06
Nov
2019
Investors urge new government to maintain and promote UK's leading investment management industry
The next government should promote the UK as the global leader for investment management by ensuring a modern regulatory system that focuses on international competitiveness as well as consumer protection.
The Investment Association (IA), which represents over 250 of the UK’s investment managers has today published an investment management industry manifesto detailing a series of policy recommendations to ensure the sector maintains its existing world-leading position.
The UK investment management industry currently manages more than £7.7trn on behalf of savers and investors around the world, and employs more than 115,000 people across the country.
The industry’s key policy recommendations include:
- Securing a future relationship with the EU that recognises the full breadth and depth of cross-border investment management activity between the UK and the EU, and best protects savers and investors wherever they are located. This will depend on close regulatory alignment and supervisory cooperation with the EU, whilst developing a regulatory system which upholds the UK’s position as a competitive and attractive place to do business for international investment managers.
- Creating an immigration and visa system to make it easy for UK-based businesses to attract highly skilled talent and to allow British employees to gain experience overseas.
- Reforming the Apprenticeship levy to make the current framework more cost-effective so it meets the skills needs of the investment management industry. Specifically, the IA is asking for higher financial services funding for levels six and seven; a new conversion course to enable people with different educational backgrounds to enter the sector; and for employers to be able to use the levy to improve the skills of current employees.
- Helping the industry to further invest in Britain’s infrastructure and build local communities by changing the ‘permitted links’ rule to allow DC pension schemes to invest in infrastructure; and reviewing the pensions charge cap to enable investment managers the flexibility to invest in large projects for greater longer-term returns for savers.
- Supporting the IA’s new Long-Term Asset Fund which builds on the UK’s high standards of customer protection, whilst giving institutional savers wider access to more illiquid assets and the flexibility to structure redemptions in a way that reflects the time it takes to sell the investment.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association said:
“The UK is a global centre of excellence for investment management and we need to maintain and continue to promote the role we have established as we seek out new frontiers post-Brexit. Closer to home, investment managers help three-quarters of all UK households to achieve their future financial and life goals by helping to grow their savings through investments. The money being invested then in turn helps businesses to grow, driving the UK’s prosperity and creating jobs.
“We want to see the investment management industry – one of the jewels in the UK’s financial services crown – continue to thrive. The government has a key role to play in securing our sector’s success and we hope the practical recommendations we have published today will be heeded for the benefit of the millions of customers our industry serves.”
The manifesto also includes policy recommendations on employee ownership, maintaining the UK’s leading reputation in corporate governance and a call for the government to support industry-led initiatives to position the UK as a leader on sustainable finance.
Notes to Editors:
A Manifesto for Investment Management can be found here
For further information, please contact:
Katie Martin, Head of Communications: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4655
Helen Ayres, Communications Manager: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4620
David Parton, Communications Executive: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4625
IA press office: [email protected]
T: 020 7269 4696
About the Investment Association (IA):
- The IA champions UK asset management, supporting British savers, investors and businesses. Our 250 members manage £7.7 trillion of assets and the asset management industry supports 115,000 jobs across the UK.
- Our mission is to make investment better. Better for clients, so they achieve their financial goals. Better for companies, so they get the capital they need to grow. And better for the economy, so everyone prospers.
- Our purpose is to ensure investment managers are in the best possible position to:
- Build people’s resilience to financial adversity
- Help people achieve their financial aspirations
- Enable people to maintain a decent standard of living as they grow older
- Contribute to economic growth through the efficient allocation of capital.
- The money our members manage is in a wide variety of investment vehicles including authorised investment funds, pension funds and stocks and shares ISAs.
- The UK is the second largest investment management centre in the world, after the US and manages 37% of all assets managed in Europe.
