The Lancashire County Pension Fund (LCPF) has appointed its management team as the scheme becomes an independent entity in preparation for its partnership with a London fund.

For the first time, the LCPF will be recognised as an entirely separate organisation to Lancashire County Council, a local government organisation in Northwest England.

The £5.3bn (€7.1bn) LCPF is to create an asset-liability management (ALM) partnership with the £4.9bn London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA), which will see the local government pension schemes (LGPS) pool investments and management to reduce costs.

George Graham will head the fund as director at the LCPF, having previously been the council’s deputy treasurer, where he managed governance and compliance.

Mike Jenson continues in his role as CIO of the pension fund and will take this forward developing the fund’s liability-management strategies.

Trevor Castledine has been promoted to deputy CIO after previously being a portfolio manager in the in-house asset management team.

Andrew Fox becomes head of policy and compliance, in charge of the new overall strategy and governance, shifting away from his previous investment compliance focus, while Diane Lister remains head of the LCPF’s in-house and third-party administration offering.

Chief executive of Lancashire County Council, Jo Turton, said the pension fund deserved a dedicated senior management team.

“The LCPF provides retirement security for over 150,000 scheme members working for over 270 different organisations,” she said. “It deserves to receive dedicated senior management attention and focus.

“The new team will be able to successfully lead the fund into the more complex and collaborative future that faces the LGPS and continue to place Lancashire at the forefront of innovation.”

The Lancashire and London funds announced their liability-management merger in December.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is shortly expected to announce its decision on whether to force the 89 LGPS funds in England and Wales to invest all assets through two collective investment vehicles – amid a push to encourage collaboration among the separated funds.

Lancashire’s neighbour, the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF), also announced collaboration with the LPFA, creating a £500m infrastructure investment fund outside of government plans.

For more on the LCPF’s ALM partnership and future investment strategy, read Carlo Svaluto Moreolo’s interview with CIO Mike Jenson

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