UK - The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) has revealed details of five investment mandates, including a passive global equity fund, as well as exposure to UK gilts.

While details of the funds from which scheme members will be able to chose have yet to be announced, a spokesperson said the new mandates would form the backbone of their strategy.

The first mandate, for a passive global equity fund, will employ either the MSCI World or FTSE World global indices as benchmarks, while the second mandate will be for a passive UK gilts 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.

The former will be measured by the FTSE Actuaries five-year index-linked gilt index, while the latter's success will be assessed by the GBP seven-day London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID).

The fifth and final mandate will be for a diversified beta fund. NEST would like the fund to have a low exposure to developed market equities, gilts, index-linked gilts and cash to avoid mirroring the first four mandates.

The mandate is aiming for a UK risk-free rate plus 2-4% per annum return, with likely matches to include diversified beta or growth funds, as well as alternative or completion funds.

All five mandates will favour a pooled investment approach and must be suitable for a UK defined contribution scheme.

They have been submitted to the Official Journal of the European Union and will be posted there shortly.