UK - The £2.4bn (€2.8bn) East Riding Pension Fund has dropped Northern Trust as its global custodian, instead awarding State Street the contract.

The position, put out to tender over the summer, attracted interest from three parties, according to East Riding and Yorkshire Council, with State Street eventually selected for the initial five-year contract, with a further five-year extension possible on a year-by-year basis.

Meanwhile, the Worcestershire County Council Pension Fund has awarded two mandates worth a total of £125m (€145m) for an emerging market (EM) equity mandate.

The £1.5bn local authority fund received nearly 40 expressions of interest for the tender put out in December last year.

It appointed JP Morgan Asset Management - already responsible for its bond investments - and Schroders.

Worcestershire previously gained EM equity exposure through its Asia Pacific allocation managed by Nomura Asset Management, worth £150m at the end of March last year, with the new allocation coming from a terminated UK equity mandate.

Mark Forrester of Worcestershire County Council told IPE: "We'd employed GLG Partners last year, running a UK active equity mandate for us. A portion of the money was taken out and directed into emerging markets, and the remainder was put into passive UK equities."

The passive UK equity mandate, overseen by UBS Global Asset Management, increased by 32% in size to £813m in the 12 months to March, accounting for more than half of all scheme assets.

Finally, the £8.7bn West Midlands local government pension scheme is looking to select a proxy voting service provider, for use with its direct equity holdings.

According to the fund's most recent annual report, 47.5% of assets were invested in listed equities, with a further 10.8% in private equity.

Of the five-year contract, which could be renewed for a further two years, West Midlands said: "The successful tenderer will undertake the voting based upon the fund's bespoke template, or voting guidelines, and advise on voting matters not covered by the template before voting."

It also expected the company to assist with engagement activities, complete risk and governance analysis on its holdings and compile annual reports on all aspects.

Interested parties have until 19 December to apply, with further information available from Wolverhampton City Council, the fund's administering authority.