Inside the fintech industry’s pensions gambit
The fintech industry are on the offensive and in this week’s column Samuel Norman gives an insight into the sector’s lobbying calls for pension fund allocation.
London has found itself brought to a halt this week.
One may have thought the Tube strikes would bring Square Mile to a standstill, too. But the lack of running tubes didn’t stop the fintech industry from steamrolling to the Guildhall on Tuesday. Fintech bigwigs gathered for Innovate Finance’s Global Fintech summit, where policymakers, regulators and industry chewed the fat over what lever to pull to supercharge the sector and wider economy.
Though on-stage chinwags were a mere sideshow compared to the behind the scenes rumbles that the industry fought through a tube-less London to wage. CityAM readers will remember that it was indeed these pages that first revealed the details of crunch talks between the Treasury, regulators and industry this week. And on Monday and Tuesday, several discreet roundtables packed industry chiefs’ calendars. It is conversations with those in attendance that unveil the one issue consistently topping the docket.
Ahead of taking to the grandest stage in the fintech realm, City minister Lucy Rigby held a roundtable with a number of the industry’s unicorns. The industry has heaped praise on the economic secretary since she took up the role in September, with one boss stating she was one of the few ministers to grace the brief who “gets it”. Though this has also been accompanied with growing fears she may soon rise up the ranks.
Before Rigby could even grace her roundtable on Tuesday, however, the agenda already seemed set. Members were already hashing through the lack of those at the table who were raising funds coming from the UK. And one source in that meeting tells me of the hour and half slot given, around an hour and 10 minutes of this was devoted to one agenda item: pension fund allocation – or a distinct lack of it.
‘Retreating’ pension funds
One attendee says: “If you’re a larger company and raising money, you are rarely raising from the UK.”
“Pension funds retreated into the background,” they add. Another fintech unicorn boss makes the argument that the companies they are asking them to invest in are “highly profitable” and not “some Series C” investment.
The chatter puts the fintech industry in the centre of a brewing row engulfing the City as the government pushes ahead with its Pension Schemes Bill, which has just passed through the Lords and is in the final stages for amendments. The bill is designed to modernise the pensions market through forced consolidation of smaller pension pots into “megafunds”.
Though the bill’s controversial “reserve power” has sparked controversy among top pension chiefs as it allows the government to legally compel pension schemes to invest a specific percentage of their assets into specific asset classes.
One fintech unicorn suggests the government opting to not grab the “hammer” of a full-fat mandate left the mission less likely to succeed. Though later conversations revealed the industry was split on the matter with many acknowledging mandate may not be the path to get the capital taps flowing.
Beyond the surface-level access to capital, a darker cloud follows the issue. In her panel, Lucy Rigby dressed the matter up as “direction of travel”.
Fintech’s capital fears
But the movement of fintech IPO prospects holds much more significance than landing in any old direction. And this view is clearly considered by the Treasury, with it no secret they have made efforts to court potential candidates for a listing. Though among the handful of issues raised by ripe candidates, capital woes continue to dominate.
Those very fears have continued to overwhlem the fintech listing debate since Wise ditched its primary listing in London in favour of the deeper pools of liquidity offered in New York. It’s a path that many fear much more will tread should a major lever not be pulled. Just this week, figures from Chatsworth and Censuswide revealed seven in 10 bosses were switching growth plans due to the UK’s waning access to capital climate.
Philip Belamant, the chief executive at Zilch, offered a blunt view. Letting the stats do the talking, he took to the stage on Tuesday to remind a room of fintech bigwigs that 25 years ago around 50 per cent of pension fund money was in British stocks, compared to today’s near three per cent. And even more damning, he called on the under 0.1 per cent that is in venture capital.
“The problem is a big one,” he warned.
“There’s companies raising as we speak… and they’re raising from foreign capital, that’s going to change the makeup of the board.”
“It’s going to move that power away from the UK and it shouldn’t be a surprise to see these companies ultimately listing abroad – that’s the big challenge that I think needs solving”.
It appears that many in the industry – albeit quietly – may agree.