UK – The UK’s 963 million euro Tate & Lyle Pension Fund has appointed State Street Corporation as its sole global custody and administration provider, following a review conducted last year.

Deutsche Bank’s custody arm was previously responsible for Tate and Lyle’s pension fund custody and administration activities, and was bought by State Street Corporation in November last year.

Tate and Lyle insists that State Street was chosen irrespective of the Deutsche acquisition, and says that the review process had commenced prior to the deal being made.

Said Viv Tierney, financial controller and secretary to the trustee of Tate & Lyle: “After a thorough review of the major providers, we selected State Street as we felt they were best placed to meet our particular requirements. We also value State Street’s commitment to continuing to grow and expand in Europe over the long term.”

State Street has enjoyed a growing presence in Europe, and now services or manages money for many of Europe’s top pension funds including, ABP, AP2, Philips Pensioenfond, Siemens and Volkswagen.

The Deutsche Bank global securities services acquisition has, without doubt, helped State Street shake off its reputation as a purely US business. Chief executive David Spina recently stated that the Deutsche acquisition “makes State Street ‘European’ in a European financial services market and a big, local player with global capabilities”.