UK pension assets declined in value over the past year, the only major pension market to do so, according to the Thinking Ahead Institute’s latest Global Pension Assets Study.
The UK remains the fourth largest pension market — after the US, Japan and Canada — but with a sizeable proportion of these assets in defined benefit (DB), rather than defined contribution (DC) schemes growth has been more muted when compared to other nations.
Globally, pension assets rose by 4.9 per cent last year, to reach a record $58.5 trillion (£47.12 trillion). All major pension markets recorded positive growth apart from the UK, where the value of pension assets declined by 0.7 per cent over 2024.
The TIA said this decline is consistent with long term data. The UK recorded the slowest growth among the largest seven pension markets over the last decade, with its global share of pension assets declining from 8.8 per cent of the largest 22 markets in 2014, to 5.4 per cent in 2024.
The US remains by far the biggest pension market with a significant 65 per cent of global pension assets. It has a significant proportion of these assets in DC funds which tend to have more exposure to equities and other growth assets, fuelling this expansion.
Looking at assets for the largest seven pension markets globally – which includes Australia, Netherlands and Switzerland – the study shows that DC now accounts for 59 per cent of total assets compared to just 40 per cent in 2004.
Overall DC assets have grown by 6.7 per cent a year globally since 2014, while DB assets grew at a slower pace, of 2.1 per cent per annum.
This is reflected in the underlying asset mix of UK pension funds, which have a 56 per cent allocation to bonds — the largest proportion across this survey.
While there has been relatively little change in the ranking of these seven largest pension markets over the last 20 years, the growth in some regions, primarily those with larger DC markets, is far outstripping others.
Since 2014, the size of Australian pension assets has grown by 110 per cent in local currency and in US the size of their pension assets have grown by 75 per cent. Both markets have a substantial skew towards DC pension funds, with 89 per cent of Australian assets in DC and 69 per cent of US assets in DC schemes.
In contrast the UK has just 27 per cent of UK pension assets in DC, with more than three quarters of its overall pensions assets in DB pensions.
Over a 20 years period the Australian market has experienced phenomenal growth, with the size of assets having increased by nearly 500 per cent over this period. The study points out that if this current trajectory is maintained, it could become the second largest pension market globally by 2030.
Thinking Ahead Institute director Jessica Gao says: “The rise of DC becomes more pronounced every year that we conduct this study.
“While global pension assets continue to reach new record levels, it is those markets with larger pools of DC assets that are the main engine behind this continued growth. As the size of these asset pools continues to increase, we are seeing increased influence by governments towards pension funds, primarily through regulation, which has expanded in line with both the size and growing significance of pensions in society.
“This has been particularly evident in countries such as Canada, Australia, and the UK.
“A key trend that we have observed over the last few decades is the rotation from equities into alternative assets, as pension schemes have turned to private equity, property, and hedge funds, to diversify their portfolios and boost returns.
“The understanding of these specialist asset classes has also deepened considerably. In the past, alternatives were grouped into a single category, but we now see a more granular approach being taken to these investments, with asset owners making distinct allocations of capital to the different asset classes such as private debt, commodities, liquid alternatives and infrastructure.”
