UK- Legal & General remains the largest manager of UK pension fund assets according to the latest edition of an annual survey of investment managers by the independent consultant Hymans Robertson.

Its ‘Big 50 survey’, which provides an overview of the 50 largest managers of UK pension funds, show Legal & General retained the number one position for the second successive year on a total of £67.5bn (e107bn) in assets.

Barclays Global Investors moved from third to second position with £60.2bn, displacing Merrill Lynch to third with £54.2bn.

Making up the fourth to tenth positions are, respectively, Schroders, Deutsche, UBS Global, Goldman Sachs, State Street, Henderson and Gartmore.

Clare Gardner, co-head of Hymans Robertson’s manager research, says the survey reflects the increasing profile of passive managers as well as US institutions within the UK market.

Goldman Sachs entered the ‘top 10’ in seventh place with assets of £22.1bn and State Street has also leapt up the order to eighth position following its purchase of Gartmore’s passive business.

The survey says Capital International and Fidelity, while remaining outside the top ten, have made significant gains in winning UK pension fund assets.

Legal & General has almost doubled its assets under management in the last five years, BGI has almost doubled them while Merrill Lynch’s total under management has remained much the same as it was at the end of 1996.

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