Two UK pension funds have gained regulatory approval for their “groundbreaking” asset management partnership aimed at cutting costs and managing liabilities.
Lancashire County Pension Fund and the London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) announced in December 2014 their intention to pool assets and offer the asset management service to other pension funds.
The partnership will operate under the moniker of Local Pensions Partnership (LPP) and manage pooled assets of £10 billion (€12.5 billion).
Other funds are expected to join the scheme in due course. Last year, UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne announced plans to pool the assets of the 89 local government pension funds in England and Wales into six new British Wealth Funds as parts of efforts to boost infrastructure financing.
When draft plans to create the pools were submitted to government in February, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, and West Yorkshire funds were included in the Lancashire-London proposal. More details are expected by July.
Senior management posts have been confirmed. Susan Martin, previously chief executive at the London Pensions Fund Authority, will lead the new body. George Graham, director of the Lancashire fund, has been named managing director and chief financial officer.
The LPP has also appointed several non-executive directors, including Sir Peter Rogers, former chief executive of Westminster City Council, Robert Vandersluis, director of GlaxoSmithKline’s global pension investments wing, and Sally Bridgeland, a non-executive director of Royal London and trustee at Nest and Lloyds Bank Pension schemes.
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