Inequality ‘a seriously bad thing,’ says M&G chief Anne Richards

M&G Investment’s chief executive Anne Richards said business elites were waking up to the backlash against “hyper-inequality” and wanted to level the playing field between executives and workers.

Richards, who runs the £248 billion money manager, said the gap between “return of captial and return of labour” was being taken “seriously” by financial titans at Davos for the first time.

“There was a completely different conversation going on this year, it was much more sober,” she told the BBC. “There’s an understanding that a little bit of inequality is a good thing for capitalism because it drives people to perform but too much is like hyper-inflation, hyper-inequality is a seriously bad thing and I think that point has landed.”

Theresa May used her keynote speech to condemn growing inequality, calling for the global economy to “work for everyone,” not just a “privileged few”.

Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday told Davos it was wrong to think the Brexit vote was about “fundamentally rejecting capitalism or globalisation. It isn’t.”

Richards said M&G was taking a keen interest in the executive pay structures of companies it invests in. “Inventive schemes are being pushed out and becoming longer term. There is much more to be done on that but you’re seeing non-financial measures also which are sometimes just as important,” she said.