Ashok Gupta is Director of the New Capital Consensus project, a coalition of not-for-profit, apolitical organisations that have come together to explore how the current UK investment system contributes to the country’s current problems of low productivity, inequality and low levels of investment.
Ashok is also Chair of the Financial Systems Thinking Innovation Centre (Finstic), Chair of Mercer UK, and Chair of EV. He is a non-executive Director of Sun Life Financial Inc and of JP Morgan European Discovery Trust.
Reviving UK Investment Flows: A Systems Approach to Productivity and Growth
The new government’s commitment to prioritising sustainable economic growth and recognising UK savings and investment as a key drivers of this growth is very welcome.
This approach acknowledges the investment system’s pivotal role in fostering growth, ensuring higher-quality retirements, and improving intergenerational fairness. Where previous governments have tended to view the investment system either as either a source of taxation or systemic risk, the current government has the opportunity to position it as a crucial intermediary — directing funds from UK savers and investors to both UK firms in need of growth capital and the country’s decarbonisation agenda.
Such a perspective has the potential to create a virtuous cycle, with increased investment driving a more productive, sustainable economy and, in turn, encouraging further investment.
To unlock this potential, however, the investment system requires reform.
Read New Capital Consensus’ launch report,Reviving UK Investment Flows:A Systems Approach to Productivity and Growth,here.
New Capital Consensus (NCC) comprises a coalition of organisations who have come together to create an apolitical, not-for-profit, research project and a policy discussion forum for commercial entities, think-tanks, policymakers and regulators. Our shared purpose is to identify and promote stakeholder buy-in to the reforms needed to foster the strongest links between the UK’s savings and retirement aspirations and the sustainable growth aspirations that drive long-term prosperity.
