This is a list of institutional investors in the United Kingdom. Institutional investors manage other people's money by buying shares in companies, corporate bonds, gilts (i.e. government debt), commodities, foreign currencies, or combinations of each, or derivatives of them (i.e. options to buy, or futures). The main kinds of UK institutional investors are,
Sovereign wealth funds are a recent addition, and grew following the Asian financial crisis from 1997, becoming important investors in the London Stock Exchange. Fund managers (usually known as investment advisers in the US), who typically belong to the same organisations as those running large mutual funds, play a critical role because normally the "primary" institutional investors delegate investment choices and corporate governance decisions to the fund manager. UK banks do not traditionally play an important role as institutional investors, as they do for instance in Germany.
The Institutional Investor Committee represents the interests of the NAPF, ABI, IMA, AITC and the British Merchant Banking and Securities House Association.
Representing the mutual fund and fund management industry is primarily the Investment Management Association (established in 2002, merging the Institutional Fund Managers Association and the Association of Unit Trusts and Investment Funds). The Association of Investment Companies is also a representation body, with an overlapping membership, but includes only businesses dealing in closed end investment companies.
These are the largest fund managers according to billions of pounds of assets under management.
Name | est. | AUM £bn | Description | Website | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Legal & General | 1836 | 25,223 | British multinational financial services company based in London. | lgim.com | |
UBS Global Asset Management | 1862 | 12,353 | Investment branch of UBS AG, a Swiss global financial services company. | ubs.com | |
BlackRock | 1988 | 10,142 | US firm, and world's largest asset manager, formed by Larry Fink and Robert S. Kapito who previously worked at First Boston. | blackrock.com | |
Baillie Gifford | 1907 | 9,439 | British multinational asset management company based in Edinburgh, Scotland. | bailliegifford.com | |
Schroders | 1804 | 6,994 | British multinational asset management company. | schroders.com | |
State Street Global Advisors | 1978 | 4,806 | Founded as part of the State Street Corporation (est 1792), and the world's second largest asset manager. | ssga.com | |
Newton Investment Management | 4,696 | newton.co.uk | |||
Capital International | 1931 | 4,099 | US fund manager. | capgroup.com | |
Aberdeen Asset Management | 1983 | 3,628 | Listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1991. | abderdeen-asset.com | |
Standard Life Investments | 1825 | 3,175 | Demutualised and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. | www.standardlife.com | |
Allianz Global Investors | 1998 | A part of Allianz SE, German financial services company. | www.allianzgi.com | ||
Investec Bank | 1974 | An international specialist banking and asset management group founded in Johannesburg. | investec.com | ||
Threadneedle Asset Management | Acquired by Ameriprise Financial in 2003. | columbiathreadneedle.co.uk | |||
Henderson Global Investors | 1934 | Has merged with Janus Capital Group in 2017 to create Janus Henderson. | .com | ||
T Rowe Price | 1937 | troweprice.com | |||
Fidelity International | 1969 | Operates as a private business since 1980, it provides investment management services. | fidelityinternational.com | ||
M&G Investments | 1931 | Was an autonomous business within the Prudential Group. Became a public company in 2019. | mandg.com | ||
Barclays Wealth | .com | ||||
Invesco Perpetual | 1973 | Forms part of Invesco Ltd. | invescoperpetual.co.uk | ||
The Association of Member Nominated Trustees and the National Association of Pension Funds are the umbrella bodies representing the interests of pension funds collectively. The number of pension funds largely mirrors the number of companies, as pensions have often not merged on an industry-wide basis. [1] Many pension funds for local councils fall within the umbrella group of the Local Government Pension Scheme, but as yet there is no consolidated management.
The Association of British Insurers is the umbrella body for UK insurance companies.
Name | est. | AUM £bn | Description | Website | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Legal & General | .com | ||||
Aviva | .com | ||||
Prudential | .com | ||||
Old Mutual | .com | ||||
Standard Life | .com | ||||
Resolution | .com | ||||
Phoenix | .com | ||||
AEGON UK | .com | ||||
XL Group | .com | ||||
St. James's Place plc | 1991 | 153.62 | .com | ||
RSA Insurance Group | .com | ||||
QBE Insurance | .com | ||||
Direct Line Insurance | .com | ||||
NFU Mutual | .com | ||||
FM Global | .com | ||||
AXA | .com | ||||
Royal London Asset Management | 1988 | 159 | .com | ||
Allianz SE | 1890 | .com | |||
Friends Life | 2008 | Defunct. Acquired by Aviva in 2015. | .com | ||
Zurich Insurance | 1872 | .com | |||
Royal London Group | 1861 | 159 | .com | ||
Hiscox | 1901 | .com | |||
Lloyds Banking Group | 2009 | 173 | .com | ||
Association of British Insurers | 1985 | The ABI is the insurance industry lobbying and coordination body, with around 400 members. | www.abi.org.uk |
Passive management is an investing strategy that tracks a market-weighted index or portfolio. Passive management is most common on the equity market, where index funds track a stock market index, but it is becoming more common in other investment types, including bonds, commodities and hedge funds.
A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any program, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.
Open-end fund is a collective investment scheme that can issue and redeem shares at any time. An investor will generally purchase shares in the fund directly from the fund itself, rather than from the existing shareholders. The term contrasts with a closed-end fund, which typically issues at the outset all the shares that it will issue, with such shares usually thereafter being tradable among investors.
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Types of investments include equity, debt, securities, real estate, infrastructure, currency, commodity, token, derivatives such as put and call options, futures, forwards, etc. This definition makes no distinction between the investors in the primary and secondary markets. That is, someone who provides a business with capital and someone who buys a stock are both investors. An investor who owns stock is a shareholder.
The Government Pension Fund of Norway comprises two entirely separate sovereign wealth funds owned by the government of Norway.
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked companies, insurers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, charities, hedge funds, REITs, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies which invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term. Activist institutional investors may also influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments. In 2019, the world's top 500 asset managers collectively managed $104.4 trillion in Assets under Management (AuM).
Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institutions, such as insurance companies, pension funds, corporations, charities, educational establishments, or private investors, either directly via investment contracts/mandates or via collective investment schemes like mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or REITs.
Wilshire Associates, Inc. is an American independent investment management firm that offers consulting services and analytical products and manages fund of funds investment vehicles for a global client base. Wilshire manages capital for more than 600 institutional investors globally representing more than $8 trillion of capital. Wilshire is also known for the creation of the Wilshire 5000 stock index in 1974 and more recently the Wilshire 4500 stock index.
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is a diversified financial services company and bank holding company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It provides financial planning products and services, including wealth management, asset management, insurance, annuities, and estate planning.
A custodian bank, or simply custodian, is a specialized financial institution responsible for providing securities services. It provides post-trade services and solutions for asset owners, asset managers, banks and broker-dealers. It is not engaged in "traditional" commercial or consumer/retail banking like lending.
A common contractual fund (CCF) is a collective investment scheme structure in Ireland introduced by the European Communities UCITS Regulations, 2003.
Wellington Management Company is a private, independent investment management firm with client assets under management totaling over US$1 trillion based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Socially responsible investing (SRI), social investment, sustainable socially conscious, "green" or ethical investing, is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social/environmental good to bring about social change regarded as positive by proponents. Socially responsible investments often constitute a small percentage of total funds invested by corporations and are riddled with obstacles.
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), sovereign investment fund, or social wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as private equity fund or hedge funds. Sovereign wealth funds invest globally. Most SWFs are funded by revenues from commodity exports or from foreign-exchange reserves held by the central bank.
An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and Tax Receivable Agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.
A private placement agent or placement agent is a firm assisting fund managers in the alternative asset class and entrepreneurs/private companies seeking to raise private financing through a so-called private placement.
Sanlam is a South African financial services group headquartered in Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa. Sanlam is the largest insurance company in Africa. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange and the A2X. Established in 1918 as a life insurance company, Sanlam Group has developed into a diversified financial services business. Its five business clusters comprise Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Emerging Markets, Sanlam Investments, Sanlam Corporate and Santam.
An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages include an ability to:
Shareholders in the United Kingdom are people and organisations who buy shares in UK companies. In large companies, such as those on the FTSE100, shareholders are overwhelmingly large institutional investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds or similar foreign organisations. UK shareholders have the most favourable set of rights in the world in their ability to control directors of corporations. UK company law gives shareholders the ability to,
OppenheimerFunds, Inc. was a global asset manager. As of February 28, 2019, the company managed over $260 billion in assets in over 13,000,000 investor accounts. In May 2019, the company was acquired by Invesco.