Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have learned any lessons from the investment strategies of successful major pension funds in other countries, including Canada, by analysing (1) what proportion of their funds were invested domestically; (2) which of the geographies in which they invested produced the highest annualised five-year net returns; and (3) what proportion of their funds were invested in infrastructure and real assets.

Phase One of the Pensions Investment Review closely considered international evidence from the Australian and Canadian pension systems. Evidence was particularly considered around the benefits of scale, asset allocations and consolidation. This was published in the Pension Investment Review and supplementary analytical document, available here:
Pensions Investment Review: interim report, consultations and evidence - GOV.UK

The analysis found:

i) 46% of Canadian pension assets and 55% of Australian pension assets are invested domestically, across all asset types.

ii) Information is not available on the exact geographies of all investments across all asset classes, nor the returns these have earned at geographical level.

iii) Canada allocates 11% of its assets to infrastructure and 13% to property. In Australia, it is estimated around 8% of its pension funds are invested in infrastructure and 7% in property.

iv) Australian pension schemes invest around 3 times more in infrastructure and 10 times more in private equity.