Three U.K. local government pension funds hired HSBC Securities Services to provide global custody, investment accounting and securities lending services.
HSBC will provide the services for the £2.1 billion ($3.5 billion) Norfolk County Council Pension Fund, £1.7 billion Suffolk County Council Pension Fund and £1 billion London Borough of Hackney Superannuation Fund, according to a news release on the Local Government Pension Scheme website.
The five-year contract, effective in October, is the first awarded from a preapproved list of custody and asset servicing providers compiled last year by the LGPS, according to the news release.
Along with the three pension funds that hired HSBC, other members of the LGPS include the £1.9 billion Cambridgeshire County Council Pension Fund; £1.5 billion Northamptonshire County Council Local Government Pension Scheme and £700 million London Borough of Croydon Pension Fund.
The other firms on the preapproved LGPS list are BNP Paribas Securities Services, BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, J.P. Morgan Investor Services, Northern Trust and State Street Bank & Trust.
Jill Davy, head of financial services at the London Borough of Hackney, and Sharon Tan, specialist accountant (pensions) at the Suffolk pension fund, both said in the release that the LGPS framework saved the pension funds time and money; Ms. Tan said the procurement process was cut to weeks from months under the new system.
Glenn Cossey, Norfolk County chief investment manager, could not be reached for comment by press time.
