As shown in Tables 2 and 3, while institutional
investor ownership is high in both markets, it
is higher in the UK than in the US, and the
composition of those investors also differs.
Insurance companies and pension funds pre- dominate in the UK, while investment companies
(mutual funds) and investment advisors
(i.e. money management firms) are the largest
institutional investors in the US. This picture is
consistent with the country-level institutional
investor types as a percentage of GDP as
reported by the OECD (2003). It is important
to differentiate among types of institutional
investors as they have significantly different
performance strategies and hence offer distinct
pressures on the firm and its stakeholders.