UK – Institutional investors’ net investment in UK government sterling securities, or gilts, fell by £7.8bn (E11.1bn) in the third quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It said: “There were decreases in net investment in British government sterling securities and overseas securities. Net investment in British government sterling securities and overseas securities fell by £7.8bn and £4.6bn respectively.”

It said these decreases were partly offset by rises of £3.5bn and £1.4bn in net investment in UK equities and “other assets”.

Overall, the total net investment by institutions was £5.7bn - £7.5bn down on the second quarter. Net investment in short-term assets was largely unchanged at £1.2bn.

The ONS said that at the end of 2003, institutions’ total identified assets were valued at £1811.1bn – an increase of 9.6% from the end-2002 figure.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has said the role of the government in meeting the UK’s retirement needs is “not obvious”.

The IMF said in a report: “It depends crucially on the tradeoff between the risk of forcing some people to save more than they wish and the risk of some people not saving enough and falling back on the government in the future.”

And the Department for Work and Pensions has begun a consultation on a draft code of practice on the “notifiable events”.

It said: “Employers, trustees and scheme managers with a duty to report notifiable events are invited to participate in the consultation to ensure that the framework is clear and workable.”

The consultation period finishes on March 4 2005, with the code due to be issued by The Pensions Regulator by May 2005.

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