DENMARK - Unipension is setting up an asset management company with a view to achieving economies of scale by winning external mandates.
The joint pensions administrator said the Danish FSA (Finanstilsynet) had given approval for it to establish the Unipension Asset Management Company (Unipension Fondsmæglerselskab) at the end of the year.
Unipension said: "The asset management company will make it possible to cooperate with external parties in the future, allowing the pension funds under Unipension to reap more economies of scale for their members."
A spokesman said the new firm was being created primarily to undertake asset management for other pension funds.
The new company will be a subsidiary of Unipension, which is jointly owned by the three professional pension funds it runs - the Architects' Pension Fund (AP), the Pension Fund for Danish MAs, MScs and PhDs (MP) and the Pension Fund for Agricultural Academics and Veterinary Surgeons (PJD).
It manages assets of around DKK80bn (€10.8bn).
Cristina Lage, managing director at Unipension, said the administrator aimed to become the most attractive pensions provider for the highly educated.
"This is an ambitious vision, which we are getting gradually closer to by putting the conditions in place and adjusting ourselves so we can continually optimise members' savings and improve our service to members," she said.
The asset management company was a good example of how Unipension was facilitating cooperation with third parties in order to build economies of scale, she said.
Staff in the new company will be the same as those in the current investment department of Unipension, with Unipension head of investment Niels Erik Petersen becoming director of the asset management company.
Lage will be chairman of the board.
No comments yet