UK – Greenwich Council’s 450 million pound pension fund has dished out five new mandates following a change of strategy, and a loss for Schroders Investment Management.

Following a recent review of the fund’s asset allocation and investment management structure by actuary Hymans Robertson, the council in south London has decided to adopt a benchmark tailored to the scheme, and a more specialist approach which takes account of risk-budgeting.

Previously, the scheme was run on an active/balanced basis by Deutsche Asset Management and Schroders Investment Management equally. The fund has now been split into five mandates as follows:

A passive multi-asset mandate to be run by Barclays Global Investors; an active multi-asset mandate to be managed by Deutsche Asset Management; a global equity mandate to be run by Alliance Bernstein; a specialist bond mandate to be run by Fidelity Investments; a property mandate to be managed by ING.

Regarding the new structure, says Greenwich: “The fund managers will be more closely aligned to their areas of specific expertise. Decisions in relation to the revised benchmark and manager structure form part of the Borough’s compliance with the Myners’ code of conduct for investment decision making.”

The new appointments will come into effect July this year.