Metroline trustees have appointed SEI as fiduciary manager to its two defined benefit schemes, which have a total of £51.6m in assets.

SEI will provide the Metroline London Northern Pension Scheme and the Metroline Pension Scheme with a fiduciary management service that includes advice on asset and liability matching strategies and implementation of those strategies through efficient investment portfolios.

According to a statement, the trustees decided to appoint SEI, because of its ability to deliver an active approach to growing and protecting funding levels with less reliance in quarterly meetings.

The trustees of Metroline, which is a provider of bus services in London, wanted to hire a fiduciary manager so that they could focus on strategic issues, rather than asset management.

John Brace, trustee on the Metroline London Northern and Metroline Pension Schemes, said: "We decided to appoint SEI because we were keen to find a solution that would improve our scheme governance and allow us to more actively manage our funding level to reduce volatility and close any funding gaps.

"We undertook a rigorous procurement exercise with the guidance of our administrator and appointed SEI because we were impressed with the depth and quality of the company's team and SEI's significant track record in managing funding levels effectively. We were particularly attracted to SEI because it offered a bespoke solution that was tailored to our needs as a trustee body."

Patrick Disney, managing director of SEI's Institutional Group in the EMEA region, said: "We are delighted that such a strong and well known brand like Metroline has made the decision to appoint SEI as fiduciary manager.

"Fiduciary management continues to grow in popularity in the U.K. and we have had an excellent start to 2013, with a significant increase in activity over the last few months. It is clear that trustee bodies in the U.K. are starting to recognise the need for a specialist approach to managing funding levels effectively and SEI's uniquely tailored offering is gaining significant traction in the market."

First published 10.04.2013

monique_simpson@wilmington.co.uk