Britain’s largest long-term savings provider has urged ministers to reform EU solvency rules that still apply in the UK to help it unleash up to £50bn in investments to revive the economy, boost infrastructure and meet climate change pledges.
FTSE 100 life insurer Phoenix Group, which has £300bn of assets under management and 13m customers, made the appeal at an event last week hosted by the prime minister, chancellor and other ministers.
Phoenix says the right regulatory and policy changes could enable it to invest £40bn-£50bn in illiquid and sustainable assets to accelerate the government’s “levelling-up” plans for revitalising poorer regions and its moves to decarbonise the economy.
“There’s a huge opportunity, and necessity, from a sustainability perspective, to get more private-sector capital from insurers and asset managers for long-term infrastructure that supports the move to net zero and the levelling-up agenda,” Andy Briggs, chief executive of the Phoenix Group, told the Financial Times.
In August, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak challenged the…
