Politicians should stop blaming pension funds for the crisis, outgoing NAPF chairman Chris Hitchen says.
In his opening speech at the National Association of Pension Funds annual conference in Manchester, Hitchen said this should be the first thing politicians should do in order to help schemes escape from the vicious circle they feel trapped in.
He said: "I am fed up with government ministers and regulators pointing the finger of blame at pension funds and pension fund trustees for the banking crisis. There are others far more culpable and they must shoulder their responsibility and look to put their own houses in order first."
Hitchen added schemes take their responsibility as corporate owners seriously.
However, he added: "Our job is to pay pensions, not to run the banks. And our influence is limited - today, we own just 13% of the UK stock market. It is ironic that as more and more DB pension funds enter run-off, driven in no small part by government and regulator-driven policies, we are now expected to come to the rescue of capitalism."
According to the NAPF, the government should stop doing things that "actually harm" workplace pension provision.
"Wouldn't it be great - and wouldn't it be a change - if, after the next election, rather than beat us over the head with a big ‘clunking fist', the first act of an incoming government was to put out the hand of friendship and support to pension funds with something that genuinely helped.
"A level regulatory playing field. Tax incentives, not double taxation. A sensible approach to government funding, not a perverse, inverted real yield curve," Hitchen said.
However, the speakers of a separate panel said schemes could do more to influence governance of companies they invest in, especially through the control the can exert on fund managers.
Conservative pensions spokesman Nigel Waterson said: "Pension funds are a force for good, but also a huge force. In broad terms they could do more."
Waterson also confirmed the conservatives, if they win the next general elections, they will push for auto-enrolment to existing "more generous" workplace schemes, than what personal accounts will be. "It is a must," he said.
He added: "We will also scrap compulsory annuitisation. How can you persuade young people to save now with such an arrangement?"
