BNP Paribas Wins Custody Mandate from Oxfordshire County

BNP Paribas has won a mandate from the Oxfordshire County Council’s pension fund in the U.K., replacing BNY Mellon as the fund’s custodian.

The mandate for the £1.5 billion fund includes BNP Paribas providing global custody and valuation reporting services, and also includes the possibility of adding securities lending and performance measurement. Since 2004, Oxfordshire’s fund has participated in securities lending a program with BNY Mellon.

BNP Paribas has already onboarded the fund’s assets, as BNY Mellon’s contract has expired.

“We were particularly impressed with the approach set out by BNP Paribas, to work with us to manage the transition, and then to develop their systems and reporting suites to meet our specific needs here in Oxfordshire. Their flexibility was a key differentiating factor, and we felt they were offering us a service rather than simply looking to provide an off-the-shelf solution,” says Sean Collins, head of pensions for the Oxfordshire fund.