James Batchelor, a chartered financial planner at Progeny, says it may not be that straightforward: "This degree of flexibility is particularly important when dealing with DC pension funds in decumulation, where access to capital is vital for funding ongoing income.
"If an asset cannot be realised punctually, it can at best represent a source of anxiety for the investor, and at worst can risk an actual loss.
"Even in the accumulation stage of pension saving, where investors may not have to sell assets to generate income for many years, pension savers should still be wary of holding an investment that they can’t readily sell or whose value is unknown because the fund manager can’t put a definite price on the assets."
Tom McPhail, public affairs director of the Lang Cat, says perhaps there could be a compromise found: "There's a balance to be struck there. The problem is that most people don't exercise a right to transfer, but when they do they've got be able to take that decision.
"Should the government allow pensions to have some kind of exemption, with a private market transfer given a six month window on those assets?"
So, for example, a person could move 95 per cent of their money straightaway but the remaining 5 per cent invested in private markets they would have to wait a while.
Fundamentally, private markets are seen as the next big area of investment and there is a huge shift away from public markets.
Mark Woolhouse chief executive of Treble Peak, says: "There's much more DC money now. If you look at all of the sources of capital in the world it's the biggest pot and it's one of the smallest allocations [to private markets]. If [private equity] can get access to the biggest pot of institutional, they can increase their percentage."
Crowell & Moring's Ramm says from the investors' perspective, there is simply less opportunity. "IPOs are too expensive and too time consuming and there's too much burden on the management, even if you're looking at Aim. That's an issue that needs to be addressed because IPOs should be able to raise this capital.
"There's a demand not just from the pension funds who are under pressure and would prefer to invest on the stock exchange; there's also retail investor demand who would like to invest in some of these more exciting companies that are primarily invested in by venture capital and private equity."
