Pension scheme for major retailer

Pension scheme for major retailer

Pension scheme / Custody & treasury benchmarking
Pension scheme for major retailer
About Pension scheme for major retailer
The Pension Scheme had been a client for many years, making good use of our monthly Custody & Treasury benchmarking. Over the years the structure of the pension scheme and the securities held have changed significantly and it was felt that their current provider lacked the ambition to support them with more complex servicing and reporting requirements. As the trusted advisor to the pension scheme for all custodian related matters, we were asked to manage a process to select and appoint a new global custodian for the pension scheme.
This was a major custodian selection assignment that was being executed on a major UK Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. The client viewed their relationship with their existing custodian as fundamentally flawed and were keen to appoint a custodian who could effectively service and report on a complex pension scheme, investing in a range of different asset classes. We were delighted to be asked to carry out this assignment, which allowed the client to benefit from our extensive experience in executing such assignments.
Tom Robertson, Managing Director

Background

The incumbent custodian had been appointed around 15 years ago when the pension fund was heavily invested in public market securities managed primarily on a segregated basis. As the pension scheme has matured exposure to public markets via segregated managers has reduced, being replaced by return seeking assets held through unitised funds, private market investments and liability matching assets. In addition, the pension introduced several Buy In insurance-based policies. Our client was looking to appoint a provider who would be able to effectively service the assets and support them in areas such an alternative asset administration, complex scheme reporting together with regulatory reporting. The view of the client was that they were keen to appoint a custodian they would consider a strategic partner for the pension scheme. 

  

Our approach

We have a tried and tested approach to the custodian searches, that covers the entire process. This process begins with ensuring that the clients future and current requirements are fully understood. We then produced the required RFP that is issued to the market. Once the RFP is received from the banks, we then assume responsibility for scoring the results and providing the client with a short list of appropriate providers. From here we will arrange and manage any interviews or due diligence meetings with shortlisted custodians. Throughout the process we use our extensive experience of working in the custody market to ensure that any fee proposals and proposed contracts that are provided are suitable and competitive in today’s market. Once the process has been completed, we provided a report to the client outlining our conclusions and making a recommendation of the most suitable custodian for the client to partner with. Once the new custodian has been appointed, we then assisted in the management of the transition of assets from the incumbent provider to the new custodian. 

  

Results

Once the transition to the new provider had been completed the client immediately began to experience an improved level of service from the new provider, who was fully committed to delivering on the commitments that had been made during the selection process.  

 
Business development contact:
Request meeting

Please complete the form, below, and we will get back to you soon.

Sign up to email alerts

Browser Compatibility Notice

Welcome to MJ Hudson. Please note, this website will not function as intended on Internet Explorer.

For the full experience, we recommended viewing this website on a modern browser, such as Edge, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

Share this page using the options below