UK/NETHERLANDS – The London office of Dutch custodian bank, KAS Associatie (KAS), has won its first UK custody mandate with the brief to provide services for a UK equity portfolio of the £145m (€233m) Norwest Holst Group staff pension scheme.

Managed by GMO Woolley, the equity portfolio represents KAS’s first appointment in the UK since launching earlier this year, although KAS says it expects to conclude other wins very soon.

Says Ian Ratoff, head of UK institutional investors at KAS: “This mandate win supports our views that there is a real demand for custodians to service smaller and medium sized pension schemes which some players may ignore.”

KAS’s UK operations will initially focus on offering administration and custody services to the UK’s smaller and medium sized pension fund market, which, according to KAS, is under served.