The Barclays UK Retirement Fund has launched Oak Pensions Asset Management (Opam), an FSA-registered vehicle which will allow the fund’s in-house investment team more flexibility to execute decisions.
Under current regulation, the in-house experts’ ideas have to be implemented through external fund advisors. Opam’s FSA registration allows for the team to implement their best ideas themselves.
Led by CIO Tony Broccardo, the in-house investment team of the Barclays pension fund is made up of seven investment professionals. The fund said thatover the last three years, the active strategies overseen by this team added value of around £1bn (€1.2bn) to the scheme’s £18.2bn defined benefit portfolio.
Broccardo said: “The BUKRF’s governance structure has enabled the in-house investment team to achieve excellent results over the last couple of years. The launch of Opam represents the most sensible next stage in the scheme’s evolution, and will allow us to continue to strengthen and further professionalise the scheme’s in-house investment capacity.”
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