BNP Paribas Securities Services has been appointed to provide custody services for the £3 billion West Sussex Pension Fund.
The mandate is part of the UK’s Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) national custody framework, requiring UK pension funds to appoint a sub-custodian for their assets.
The scheme went live in 2014 to help local government funds reduce procurement costs and negotiate better deals for their funds.
“Our interactions with them [West Sussex Pension Fund] so far have provided us with great insight into their changing needs, partly as a result of the LGPS pooling, and we look forward to continuing to work with them and deepening our relationship,” said Sid Newby, head of business development, UK, BNP Paribas Securities Services.
The French-based custodian will also provide investment accounting, investment reporting and performance services for the pension fund.
“We were impressed by the expertise of the individuals we worked with and the technology underlying its services – particularly BNP Paribas’ reporting tools, such as its Data Navigation Analysis system,” added Jeremy Hunt, pension panel chairman, West Sussex Pension Fund.
The West Sussex fund is the latest local government fund under the scheme to sign up for BNP Paribas’s custody services.
BNP Paribas Securities Services was selected to provide custody services to the Isle of Wight LGPS in 2015.
Other custodians that were awarded contracts for the scheme also include BNY Mellon, HSBC Securities Services, JP Morgan, Northern Trust and State Street.