RPMI Railpen, the investment manager for the U.K.’s Railway Pension Scheme (RPS), has chosen Northern Trust as its outsourcing provider for its investment operations, as the custodian continues its push into the U.K. pension market.
The mandate for the £21 billion pension scheme will involve Northern Trust providing trade matching, derivatives processing and lifecycle management, collateral management and book-of-record services.
“Access to tried and tested middle-office services delivered through a sophisticated platform is particularly attractive to asset owners looking to build in-house management capabilities,” says Penelope Biggs, head of the Institutional Investor Group, EMEA, Northern Trust.
The deal with Railpen is the third U.K. pension fund mandate for Northern Trust this year. In March it was selected as the global custodian for The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the U.K.’s pension lifeboat fund with £20 billion in pension assets.
Also in January, it also signed an agreement with London’s local government pension funds to bring them into a collective investment vehicle to pool their funds under one roof, with Northern Trust acting as the global custodian for the funds.
Northern Trust now provides outsourcing services to six of the top 10 U.K. pension funds, together representing more than $240 billion in assets and approximately one fifth of the entire U.K. pension funds market.
The mandate comes one week after Railpen also selected BNP Paribas Securities Services to manage its dealing activities.
U.K.’s Railpen Outsources Investment Operations to Northern Trust
RPMI Railpen, the investment manager for the U.K.’s Railway Pension Scheme (RPS), has chosen Northern Trust as its outsourcing provider for its investment operations, as the custodian continues its push into the U.K. pension market.