Aviva boss Dame Amanda Blanc has warned government ministers not to force savers to invest pensions in UK assets.

Blanc made the comments at The Times CEO Summit, insisting it must be for savers to decide how and where to invest their pensions.

It comes, The Times reports, amid increasing concerns in the retirement industry that ministers plan to force investment funds to buy UK assets.

Blanc said firms like Aviva, that provide defined contribution workplace plans, make their investments decisions based on "choices made by the members of those schemes”.

She went on: “They have to be the decision-makers; it isn’t for us to decide. We have to provide them with the options.”

While ministers are hopeful that reform of the pension industry will encourage more domestic investment, the government will also give itself the reserve power to mandate funds to buy certain assets.

However, the treasury has emphasised it does not think it will be necessary to use the backstop.

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The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was up 13 points at 8,824 shortly after opening this morning.

Brent crude oil futures were down 2.54% at $76.69 a barrel.

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