Heath-Lay also warned against over regulation. He said: “We shouldn't be in a position where master trusts are being forced to change their proposition over things like losing a mandate over a basis point.”
Productive finance
All the panellists agreed pension scheme investment in productive finance had the potential to deliver value, but it needed support from both the government and the asset management industry.
Heath-Lay said: “I'm not sure we've seen the investment industry particularly come up with the products that can work for asset owners like us.”
“I think that the balance of the economics in some of the vehicles that are brought to us just don't work enough for the members.”
Jamie Fiveash, chief executive of Smart Pension, said fiscal incentives such as reintroducing tax credits on dividends would reassure schemes.
He said: “We still need to have fiduciary duty elements, which is why we're talking about some of the fiscal incentives that we think are needed in portfolios.”
Heath-Lay expressed concern that some of the elements of the government’s value for money consultation may drive some schemes out of the market.
“Is it a sledgehammer to crack a nut? I don't think we can agree that having standardisation of certain metrics is a really good thing.”
Samantha Downes is a freelance financial journalist
