£46 billion North England pension fund group partners with Northern Trust

Northern Trust has become the custodian-of-choice for UK local government pension funds, having won eight other LGPS mandates.

By Joe Parsons

A collection of Northern England pension funds has partnered with Northern Trust for a range of custodial and fund administration services, its largest UK pension fund mandate.

Northern Pool, a £46 billion pension fund group comprising Greater Manchester Pension Fund, West Yorkshire Pension Fund and Merseyside Pension Fund, is one of the largest of eight local government pension pools in the UK.

In addition to custody, Northern Trust will provide securities lending, private equity administration, compliance monitoring and carbon reporting services.

The appointment follows a selection process which was supported by global post-trade risk and custody specialist, Thomas Murray. 

“We appointed Northern Trust based on their proven experience in the UK pensions market and their ability to offer us a range of holistic reporting, custody and alternative administration solutions, in accordance with the government’s requirements of putting the highest and most expedient levels of regulation and asset safety at the heart of the Northern Pool,” said Ian Greenwood, chair of the Northern Pool.

Northern Trust has become the custodian-of-choice for UK local government pension funds, having won eight similar mandates since the formation of the local government pension scheme (LGPS) asset pools.

However, this mandate is the first local government pension fund to outsource its private equity administration services under the scheme.

“Northern Trust is delighted to support the Northern Pool with a range of services, including reporting solutions to meet their requirements for heightened investment governance and transparency over investments,” said James Wright, head of Northern Trust’s institutional investor group for the UK, Middle East and Africa.

In February, Northern Trust was selected by the UK’s Border to Coast Pension’s Partnership to be the administrator and depository for its £43 billion of assets under management.

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