Jeremy Hunt’s push to get more pension funds to “buy British” risks going too far and leaving retirees worse off, the world’s largest money manager has warned.
Blackrock, which looks after the pensions of one in five Brits, said it would be alarmed if the government forced funds to own a specific amount of UK stocks.
Such a move has been speculated after the Chancellor decided to force some pension funds to disclose how much they invest in UK equities.
Mr Hunt has been explicit in his goal of getting pension funds to invest more into British assets to boost growth and has pledged to take further steps if things did not improve.
It has prompted speculation the government could mandate that funds must have a certain percentage of assets invested in UK stock markets.
Antony Manchester, a former Treasury official and now BlackRock’s head of UK public policy, said he was concerned such a move risked…
