The £22bn RBS Group Pension Fund, one of the UK’s biggest, reduced its exposure to equities by £2bn during the 12 months to March 31, as it moved towards a new, lower-risk investment mix to deal with “volatile markets”.

The RBS fund has not sold any of its £5bn-worth of physical equity holdings. Rather, it has reduced its portfolio of equity futures from about £5bn to about £3bn, it said last week in a report to members.