EUROPE - UK pension fund assets run by fiduciary managers could reach £300bn by 2012, up from £2bn today, if the experience in the Netherlands is repeated, predicts Andrew Dyson, Blackrock's head of international institutional business.

Assessing the outlook for pensions in 2009, Dyson claimed the credit crisis demands the emergence of new trustee models which are better suited to handle changing markets and deliver more oversight, while watching pension funds' pennies more efficiently.

"A new trustee model is likely to emerge including partial or full fiduciary management and independent advice," suggested Dyson.

Blackrock, which has been trying to push deeper into the fiduciary space in the past year, added: "This model is better suited to handle increasing complexity and a swift response to changing markets, without overloading trustees."

Dyson said 2009 will also see further convergence in the roles of consultants and investment mangers, along with increased scrutiny of the organisational stability of asset managers.

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