UK - Confusion about exactly which London pension fund is taking oil giant BP to court over alleged negligence has, hopefully, been cleared up.

The City of London Pension Fund put out a statement yesterday saying it was attached to the suit following advice from its custodian ABN Amro Mellon.

But the plot thickened when the separate London Pensions Fund Authority confirmed to IPE that it was in fact the London scheme attached to the suit.

No further comment was made pending a press statement. As of March 2006 the LPFA held £18.8m (€27.8m) worth in shares in BP.

Meanwhile ABN Amro Mellon said that it "had no record on the system of the City of London Pension fund being attached to this class action".

"The City of London would not expect to initiate actions against companies in which it holds shares, and we have not initiated this action against BP," the City scheme said yesterday. 

It added: "However, the standing instruction we have with our global custodian, ABN Amro Mellon, is that if they judge a class action to have merit and a reasonable prospect of success, we will allow our name to be attached to that action."

It told IPE the statement followed an article in the Evening Standard which named the fund.

ABN Amro Mellon spokesman Tim Steele said: "As a global custodian we don't initiate class actions, nor do we advise any clients regarding the merits or otherwise of class actions.

"Our role is purely administrative and reactive and we don't become involved in the process itself until the court has approved a class action settlement and has taken the step of appointing a claims administrator."

There might "quite possibly" have been a misunderstanding regarding the role of the custodian. 

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