The Merseyside local authority pension scheme has selected Northern Trust to provide global custody, investment accounting, securities lending and commission recapture services.

The mandate, issued by the administering authority for the Merseyside pension fund, Wirral Metropolitan Council (Merseyside), is worth approximately £4.5bn in pension fund assets.

This latest appointment brings Northern Trust's total assets under custody for UK local government pension schemes (LGPS) to £65bn ($100bn). The firm now represents a 43% share of the total LGPS market in the UK (by asset size).

"Northern Trust's ability to customise their asset servicing reporting capabilities to meet our requirements, combined with their proven track record in the LGPS market were key factors in their appointment," said Peter Wallach, head of Merseyside pension fund. "In particular the ability to provide a single platform for reporting and managing all our assets should enable us to save time and resource."

First published 22.10.2012

azeevalkink@wilmington.co.uk