BNP Paribas Securities Services Takes Teesside Mandate

BNP Paribas Securities Services reports that it has been selected by Middlesbrough Council in the UK to provide global custody, monthly valuation and foreign exchange services to the Teesside Pension Fund (Teesside).

Teesside is a local government occupational pension scheme with £2.5bn in assets including UK and global equities, bonds and direct property. The fund is managed in-house by Middlesbrough Council’s portfolio investment team.

Following a competitive tender, the council selected BNP Paribas based on its safety as a global custodian and its extensive range of services. The bank’s mandate is to provide global custody but there is scope to expand the relationship into securities lending and advanced portfolio monitoring and reporting.

“Our most important considerations in appointing a new custodian were the safety of our assets, the strength of institution and their quality of service,” said Paul Campbell, head of investments at the Teesside Pension Fund.

“We reviewed several custodians operating in the UK and found BNP Paribas to be the best fit based on our selection criteria. We were very impressed with their team, including their on-the-ground operations staff, and look forward to working with them. 

James McAleenan, head of BNP Paribas Securities Services UK said: “We’re delighted to have won this mandate and see it as a strategic milestone for our UK franchise. We already have a successful custody and fund administration business in the UK, and this win is an excellent example of our commitment to servicing pension funds in this location.” 

BNP Paribas neatly takes the opportunity to remind readers that in September it launched a market risk monitoring tool for pension funds that calculates risk against individual securities, allowing it to determine the market risk across entire portfolios with higher accuracy. In the same month, the bank came second in the R&M Consultants annual client satisfaction survey of UK fund administrators.