The pensions and investment industry must "put aside" its differences and think collectively to deliver positive outcomes, State Street Global Advisors global chief retirement strategist Amlan Roy has claimed.

Speaking at the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association's Investment Conference, Roy stated: "We need to collectively put aside our differences and understand the world of pensions and investments in an integrated way".

"We need to think out of the box" as well as "thinking collectively" as a broad, cohesive industry, he highlighted.

Looking at ways to solve pensions problems in the current climate, Roy noted that the UK must look at all public-impacting areas together in order to come to a solution. "We cannot solve the pensions problem by itself , we need to solve, labour, health, pensions and social policy holistically."

It is important, therefore, to invest time and thought into the reform of all of these sectors to also improve pensions, Roy stated.

While highlighting that the UK holds "one of the least generous pension systems" globally, Roy echoed the need to find ways to motivate savers using behavioural economics.

Roy made a series of recommendations that could strengthen the pension system including the abolishment of mandatory retirement ages and closing gender gaps in retirement age in order to "better utilise female work potential". He noted that global evidence has shown that many women work for longer than their expected retirement age when this is encouraged.

Furthermore, Roy also suggested that investors must realise the differences between their investments in order to best understand them.

To date, "central bankers have not succeeded," Roy concluded, " we need more fiscal and structural policy to see real growth returns".

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