ITALY – Inarcassa, the €2.7bn association for self-employed engineers and architects, has consolidated its internal and external management’s custody and accounting under BNP Paribas Securities Services.

Paolo Tosi, the fund’s chief investment officer, explained that before the appointment, Banca Popolare di Sondrio acted as custodian for the share of assets internally managed.

Externally managed assets were taken cared for by different custodians.

In December the fund consolidated global custody and appointed BNP Paribas to handle its investment accounting, investment compliance monitoring and cash management.

“The novelty of this appointment is that we do not only expect custody services of BNP Paribas but also control over portfolios,” Tosi told IPE.

Stefano Catanzaro, head of sales and relationship management for institutional investors at BNP Paribas Securities Services in Italy, said: “ Inarcassa has chosen us for our global experience with local knowledge of the Italian market.”

He told IPE that the last quarter of 2004 had been “really very good.”

“We have attracted new clients; pension funds, asset managers and insurance companies.”

Catanzaro added that as well as Inarcassa, another as yet unidentified pension fund had selected BNP Paribas for similar services.

“Our target for 2005 is to watch the pensions system, because we believe that with the pension reform, assets under management and therefore custody will be boosted” Catanzaro said.

He was referring to the implementation of the pension reform, passed last July, which requires workers to invest their severance pay, or TFR, in pension funds, to develop the second pillar.

Meanwhile, BNP Paribas Securities Services said it had also been awarded a post-trade package mandate by Fondaco SGR SpA mutual funds.

BNP Paribas will provide services such as accounting and administration, depository bank, custody and investment compliance monitoring, as well as regulatory reporting to the Italian authorities.

Fondaco SGR S.p.A., which has assets under management of approximately €700m, is owned by Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, Ersel Finanziaria S.p.A and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna.

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