ITALY – Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has received a significant boost in its push into the Italian institutional and retail market with the award of an e200m active tactical asset allocation mandate from one of the world’s oldest banks, the Fondazione Monte dei Pascha di Siena (MPS Foundation).

The MPS mandate will be run through BGI’s quantitative advanced active process, with the fund manager attempting to add value through a changing allocation mix of global stocks, bonds and currencies.

Peter Paul Pardi, head of southern European institutional business at BGI, comments: “We are delighted to have been this global tactical asset allocation mandate from the MPS Foundation. The nature of the mandate furthers Barclays Global Investors’ reputation on the continent as an investment manager offering a full and diverse range of products and services.”

Banca Monte dei Pascha di Siena, founded in 1472, claims to be the world’s oldest bank. It is currently one of Italy’s 10 largest banks with over 1900 branches and operations in 15 other countries.

In the last 12 months BGI’s business in Italy has grown by over e1.2bn from a variety of sources including foundations and multi-manager programmes, according to the group.