UK pension schemes’ in-house investment teams should look to “global peers as a source of innovation”, LGPS Central CIO, Jayne Atkinson, has suggested.

Speaking at the Pensions UK Investment Conference, Atkinson highlighted the importance of looking at the actions of pension schemes overseas.

“Some global pension funds are doing some really exciting things,” she explained. “If you look across to South Africa, for example, some pension funds are designing in-house annuity provision, because their annuity market isn't built up as it is in the UK.

“I think our global peers are also a source of innovation that we can utilise. The Australian funds, they've done some great things in relation to DC. We can learn from our Canadian peers as well.

"But I think it's also important to look at those emerging market funds as well. What are the big players doing out there? What the Chilean pension fund is doing? There's some great innovation. It's a matter of capturing it,” Atkinson added.

Fellow panellist Nest Insight CIO, Elizabeth Fernando, highlighted how Nest encourages its in-house investment teams to look externally.

Referencing the private market expertise that Nest brought in-house, Fernando explained that they are asked “to go out and look externally”.

“Talk to our peers and see what they do and how they do it. Talk to our managers about the different approaches they take, because there isn't one source of wisdom here. And the more you can learn from other people about what they wish they had done differently, things that you like, things that you don't like, all helps inform your thinking as to what you should be doing,” she explained.

In October last year, Nest increased its investments in private equity by providing Schroders Capital with a further £500m to be invested through its private equity mandate, bringing Nest’s total committed capital to Schroders Capital’s private equity strategy to £1.5bn.

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