The British Business Bank responds to the Chancellor's Mansion House speech

At today's Mansion House speech, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, announced an ambitious package of measures to unlock UK pension fund capital into productive investment.

This includes asking the British Business Bank to test proposals to build on the skills and expertise of its commercial arm, which currently has over £15bn of capital mobilised into more than 20,000 companies, and potentially open its pipeline of growth company investment opportunities to pension funds to crowd in more investment.

Responding to the Chancellor's Mansion House speech, Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank said: "With institutional investors currently only investing a small amount in alternative assets such as venture capital, pension savers may be missing out on opportunities for better returns.

"The British Business Bank fully supports the Chancellor's request to explore establishing a vehicle that could receive third party capital such as pension fund investment, making use of the Bank's track record and market access to a range of promising high growth companies.

"This would need to be tested with the market to ensure sufficient appetite, so the Chancellor has asked the British Business Bank to test proposals with industry over the coming months ahead of Autumn Statement.

Mansion House Compact

In addition, the British Business Bank confirmed its support today for the Mansion House Compact, an initiative announced by the Lord Mayor of London, Nicholas Lyons. The purpose of the initiative is to encourage more long term capital into UK growth companies to improve the retirement incomes of UK savers by encouraging pension schemes to increase their allocation to unlisted equities, including venture capital and private equity, where it is in the best interest of their scheme members.

Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank said: "The British Business Bank supports the Mansion House Compact to enable better long-term retirement outcomes for the UK's pension savers, which should also provide a legacy of vibrant modern companies for future generations.

"This is an important initiative, with has the potential to unlock billions of pounds of additional investment for the UK's fastest growing and most innovative companies, while also enabling the UK's pension savers to benefit from their success and boosting the UK economy."