The UK government’s £22 billion infrastructure investment vehicle has been rebranded as the National Wealth Fund (NWF), with an extra £6bn thrown in.
The Leeds-based UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) was established in 2021 to act as a co-investor alongside private businesses “helping to tackle climate change and supporting regional and local economic growth”.
Chancellor, Rachel Reeves confirmed the change at the International Investment summit in London. According to business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds, the NWF will boost UK investment in green technology.
The NWF was a key pledge of the winning UK government’s plans to create a “UK energy superpower” alongside the establishment of the £8bn Great British Energy in Aberdeen.
But the extra £5.8bn falls short of previous pledges to capitalise the NWF with £7.3bn with a view to raising three times as much from the private sector.
However, a Treasury official told the Financial Times it would invest a further £1.5bn in ports, gigafactories, clean steel, carbon capture and green hydrogen alongside the fund.
At the investment summit on Monday, Prime Minister Kier Starmer added that, along with Great British (GB) Energy, the NWF “will accelerate investment in clean power and future technologies”.
It was initially envisaged UKIB would allocate money from the wealth fund. Its chief executive, former HSBC chief executive John Flint, is now CEO of NWF.
He said the organisation has “hit the ground running”.
He said: “It is a huge privilege to be entrusted with the responsibility of leading the National Wealth Fund.
“Building on the strong foundations we have laid as UKIB, we will hit the ground running, using sector insight and investment expertise that the market knows and trusts to unlock billions of pounds of private finance for projects across the UK.
“With additional capital to deploy against a bigger mandate, we stand ready to help the market invest with confidence, in support of the Government’s growth ambitions.”
Reeves, said announcements made at the summit were “the first step in delivering on this government’s central mission to secure sustainable growth, rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off”.
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