UK - Further details have emerged about the five investment mandates being tendered by the UK National Employment Savings Trust (NEST).

The tenders, first announced last week and including UK gilt and global equities mandates, will progress in two stages.
 
All interested parties should submit proposals to Aon Hewitt by 19 November, with NEST planning to evaluate all proposals by 7 December. 

Once Aon Hewitt receives a request for proposal, it will send out a questionnaire, with the aim of reducing applications.

Proposals that pass that round will then be evaluated on operational due diligence, investment process, charges and fees, risk management and performance analysis, as well as client service.

From 13 December, NEST will invite short-listed applicants for a presentation.

The favoured investment approach for the five mandates will be pooled funds suitable for a UK defined contribution scheme.

The first mandate, for a passive global equity fund, should employ either the MSCI World or FTSE World indices as benchmarks, while the second mandate will be for a passive UK gilt fund employing the FTSE Actuaries All Stocks index as a benchmark.

Additional mandates include a index-linked fixed interest fund and a low-risk cash management fund or product, employing the FTSE Actuaries five-year index-linked gilt index and the seven-day LIBID, respectively.

The fifth and final mandate will be for a diversified beta fund, aiming for a UK risk-free rate return plus 2-4% per annum.