UK - NEST Corporation has awarded its first five mandates for what will provide the "building blocks" for its default 'yearly target date' funds.

UBS Global Asset Management won the passive global equities mandate with its Life World Equity Tracker, which follows the FTSE All-World Developed index.

State Street won the passive UK gilts mandate with its UK Conventional Gilts All Stocks Index fund, which tracks the FTSE Actuaries UK Gilts All Stocks index.

It also won the passive UK index-linked gilts mandate with its UK Index Linked Gilts over 5 Years Index fund, which employs the FTSE Actuaries UK Index-Linked Gilts over 5 Years index as a benchmark.

BlackRock also snapped up two mandates - the sterling cash and the diversified beta. The asset manager's Aquila Cash fund - a portfolio of high-quality, short-term money market instruments - won the first, while the Aquila Life Market Advantage fund won the second.

This fund, managed by BlackRock Asset Management Pensions, invests in a wide range of asset classes, primarily through the company's range of pooled index funds.

Tim Jones, chief executive at NEST, said the awarding of the mandates showed NEST was on track.

"We are getting the infrastructure in place now so we can test the systems and be ready to accept our first contributions later this year," he said.

"We are gathering together an impressive collection of global leaders to work with us to deliver NEST."
 
Mark Fawcett, chief investment officer for NEST, added: "The infrastructure we are putting in place will give our members access to a diverse set of global asset classes, through NEST-constructed yearly target date funds, which will help us to manage investment risks in a way that's appropriate for them."