UK - Railpen Investments, the investment arm of the UK Railways Pension Trustee Co., has hired Polly Watts, a former director of institutional funds at ISIS Asset Management.

“Polly Watts joined on 14 July as Investor Relations Manager,” Railpen said. She will work with asset strategy head Stephen Lowe “to determine and communicate investment strategy for sections of the railways schemes”.

Watts was a principal investment consultant at Aon Consulting before joining ISIS.

Railpen managing director Chris Hitchen said: “Polly will greatly enhance our ability to consult and communicate with railway employers and members on investment matters.”

Railpen also said it has hired Peter McStay from State Street as performance and risk officer, reporting to Joyce Martindale.

Railpen provides strategic investment advice, investment performance monitoring, investment accounting and appoints external investment managers and custodians for the Railways Pension Scheme and eight other railway industry pension schemes. They collectively form the sixth-largest pension fund in the UK.

It organises the pension assets for around 100 railway employers and over 300,000 members, totalling around 12 billion pounds (17 billion euros).