An Post, the IR£1.4bn (e1.78bn) pension scheme of the Irish Post Office, has awarded the global custody for the fund to ABN AMRO Mellon Global Securities Services.
The custody brief, which will be managed from ABN-AMRO Mellon’s London base, includes full investment accounting, compliance monitoring and cash management services.
The appointment – ABN AMRO Mellon’s first custody win in the Republic of Ireland – is the latest move in a restructuring of An Post’s pension scheme following a review of the fund’s long-term investment strategy.
This upped the number of investment managers to the scheme from three to four.
The funds assets under management have grown remarkably over the last five years from a level of just IR£350m to quadruple that amount today.
Simon Shapland, director of sales for ABN-AMRO Mellon, comments:
“The appointment is highly significant for us. It is ABN-AMRO Mellon’s first custody client in the Republic of Ireland, which marks a recognition of the truly multinational nature of our offering.”
The group has also won the global custody mandate for the £1.36bn (e2.17bn) UK Hertfordshire County Council pension fund.
Services to be provided in the mandate include core custody, investment accounting and reporting with an option to move into stock lending and cash management in the future.
“We have taken the decision to appoint a global custodian in order to streamline administration and to enable us to take advantage of added-value services in the future, such as stock lending and cash management. The decision to appoint ABN AMRO Mellon was based on the quality of service on offer at a very competitive price,” says Jill Laycock, corporate accountancy group manager at Hertfordshire County Council.
“We see this award as validation of the efforts our team have made in the UK, and for this marketplace to recognise ABN AMRO Mellon as a viable alternative to the competition,” says Nadine Chakar, managing director at ABN AMRO Mellon.
In a separate move, the £1.36bn (e2.17bn) Hertfordshire County Council has appointed ABN AMRO Mellon as its global custodian.

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