The latest research from the financial information site DigitalLook.com has revealed pension funds have born the brunt of the loss in value of banking shares, estimated to have plunged by £148bn in the past three years, most of which has been wiped off since the credit crunch started in the summer of 2007.

‘This huge loss in the value of shares will largely be borne by pension funds, insurance companies and small private investors,’ Andy Yates, DigitalLook.bn director,' told The Independent.

‘It will help force down pension payments and push up the cost of life, car and house insurance. Every bailout that leaves the shareholders in the cold is just going to add to that problem. There is nearly £10bn in market cap wiped from Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock that isn't going to reappear.’

The problem, Yates says, is that the undermining of the banking sector will damage the Government's ambition for more Britons to fund their own retirement through the private pension system.

Further reading:

Employee benefits: pensions - retire gracefully

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