This week's mandate round-up includes State Street, SVM Asset Management, Mercer, PMI, Swiss Re and the AkzoNobel Pension Scheme.
ING Investment Management wins investment coordinator mandate for Dutch pension scheme
Integrated Client Solutions, part of ING Investment Management (ING IM), has been awarded coordinating investment advisor mandate by Stichting Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds voor de Zoetwarenindustrie (Bpf Zoetwaren), the industry-wide pension scheme for the confectionary industry.
The scheme, which according to Pension Funds Online has 60,000 active and deferred members amongst its 215 affiliated employers, holds assets worth €1.5bn.
Earlier this month ING IM was awarded a mandate for €400m by a foreign institutional investor whose name was not revealed, and before that the firm announced two mandates which were awarded by insurance companies.
Bpf Zoetwaren was supported in the process by Avida International. Joanne de Graaff, chair of the fund, said: "We are very enthusiastic about the advice approach of ING IM and the transparency they offer. We also thought it was a huge advantage that ING IM already had knowledge of manager selection and monitoring through their work for Altis."
State Street appointed by SVM Asset Management to provide full range fund administration services
Financial services provider State Street Corporation announced it has been appointed by SVM Asset Management Limited (SVM) to provide a range of fund administration services for more than $750m in assets.
SVM, a privately owned boutique investment company based in Edinburgh, will consolidate all of its UK-based fund administration activities including global custody, investment accounting and trustee and depositary services with State Street.
"State Street offered a one-stop service solution that allowed us to consolidate all investment administration activities into a robust service model through a single provider. This decision will minimise our operational risk and help us to maximise economies of scale," said Carolina Viola, head of legal and compliance at SVM.
State Street currently has $23.2tn in assets under custody and administration and $2tn in assets under management.
PMI and Mercer join forces on discontinuance
The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) announced its partnership with Mercer to offer specialist support in the area of discontinuance administration solutions. This move is in response to growing demand within the industry for specialist services relating to approaches to solvent buy-outs, insolvency administration and overall scheme cessations, as well as meeting the standards set in these exercises by the Pensions Regulator.
PMI commented that the institute is pleased with the cooperation as discontinuance amongst schemes is currently such a hot topic for the industry.
Neil Bolding, head of scheme discontinuance within Outsourcing at Mercer said: "When schemes trigger wind-up or commit to a potential buy-out or buy-in, they may be requiring solutions and expertise beyond their own and their current administrator's capabilities. Our service and partnership with the PMI aims to promote the knowledge and expertise required when dealing with such a large and complex process. This includes the key factors and priorities for trustees and employers to focus on in order to meet the timescales and standards set by the regulator as well as making the process cost effective."
In partnership, the PMI and Mercer will provide information and assistance on the growing demand for specialist administration expertise within scheme cessations for defined benefit schemes for PMI members and the industry as a whole, through a variety of channels.
AkzoNobel and Swiss Re agree on £1.4bn longevity insurance contract
One of AkzoNobel's UK pension scheme entered into a £1.4bn longevity insurance contract with Swiss Re.
The agreement covers close to 17,000 individuals and their future contingent beneficiaries who were members of the AkzoNobel (CPS) Pension Scheme on 1 August 2011.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions head longevity solutions Costas Yiasoumi said: "Longevity contracts are very long-dated and pension fund trustees need counterparties that are in this market for the long haul. As a well-diversified re-insurer with a 150-year track record, we were able to give AkzoNobel, the pension plan trustees and its advisors the necessary confidence for the long term."
Previously, in 2009, Swiss Re closed a £1bn longevity insurance contract for the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund.
First published 06.06.2012
azeevalkink@wilmington.co.uk
