UK - Following its review of custody arrangements the £29bn (€44bn) Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has re-appointed JPMorgan as custodian for  £24bn of its assets (updates mandate size).

Last week, ABN Amro announced that it had won a £5bn custody mandate with USS replacing incumbent custodian State Street.

JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services has provided custody services for USS since 1995 and is currently mainly responsible for assets which are internally managed by USS.

"The re-appointment reaffirms our market position as the leading provider of custody services in the UK pension sector," commented Francis Jackson, head of business development and relationship management at JPMorgan.

The custodian currently heads the industry table with $13.9trn (€10.8trn) in assets and custody. Bank of New York is second with $13trn but will take the lead once the merger with Mellon is completed and will see the assets of the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation rise to $17.5trn under custody.

Elsewhere it appeared that the £1.2bn (€1.8bn) North Yorkshire County Council pension fund has awarded a £46m global tactical asset allocation mandate to UBS Global Asset Management.

The awarding of the mandate follows changes made last year to the fund's equity portfolio moving towards specialist fund managers.