60% of UK pensions industry to vote no to Brexit

06 May, 2016

With just weeks away from the Brexit vote on 23 June, research has revealed that 61% of UK pension industry stakeholders surveyed will vote to remain in the European Union (EU). This number rises when looking at solution providers likes banks and asset managers specifically, with 73% saying they would vote to remain in the EU and none indicating they would vote to leave.

The survey was conducted between 11 and 22 April by Mallowstreet, a platform bringing the institutional pensions industry together. The survey included a diverse group of pension professionals from its 3,000-strong online community of stakeholders.

Interestingly, while 64% of pension trustees and 63% of consultants said they would vote to stay in, 32% of trustees planned to vote to leave the EU together with 21% of consultants.

Opinion on whether or not the UK as a whole would vote to leave the EU painted a slightly different picture, with 27% of solutions providers believing the UK would leave the EU, while overall 63% saw the UK remaining as part of the EU. This is significant given only 1 in 4 respondents believed Brexit would be positive for the economy.

Mallowstreet CEO Stuart Breyer noted that “These findings of course are just a marker in time and over the coming weeks we will continue to gauge how the views of the pensions industry are changing via our online community and how the final vote may play out on 23 June.”

“We are just weeks away from what is a cliff edge moment for the UK and our research gives us a unique insight into what the pension industry is really thinking as we approach it. What’s clear is that there is almost a consensus of opinion on the various issues among asset managers and banks – that a Brexit has been effectively ruled out.”

Photo credit: Thijs ter Haar, Flickr