Northern Trust has been appointed to provide a range of asset servicing solutions to Coal Pension Trustees Services Limited (CPT).
CPT is the in-house executive company owned by the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme and the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme – two closed defined benefit schemes representing members who previously worked across the United Kingdom (UK) Coal industry.
Their combined assets of USD26 billion place the Coal Schemes in the top 10 pension funds by size in the United Kingdom. CPT invests these assets on behalf of the two schemes, with the objective of delivering sustainable long-term returns for their members’ retirement provision.
Northern Trust is providing CPT with valuation reporting, performance measurement, securities lending, foreign exchange and global custody services. This includes operational and data solutions to support the oversight and governance models – including specialist fund administration and analytics for its private markets portfolio.
Janka Unsworth Deckerova, head of financial operations at CPT, says: “As we work to deliver retirement provision to members of our two schemes, Northern Trust’s capabilities support the investment activities and broader decision-making of teams across our organization. Its ability to provide high-quality data to support our public and private market investments, as well as our evolving operating model and data strategy, were among the reasons for this appointment.”
Mark Austin, head of UK, Institutional Investor Group at Northern Trust, says: “Northern Trust’s technology, global scale and knowledge of the retirement industry all equip us in delivering services to support CPT’s long-term objectives and future requirements. While the current environment is driving significant complexity and challenge for UK pensions, we are well-placed to help administer their evolving mix of investments and help clients meet their obligations around governance, reporting and risk management.”
Northern Trust’s Institutional Investor Group provides services to more than 290 UK pension funds with collectively more than USD945 billion (as at 31 December 2020) in assets under custody. Clients serviced include defined contribution master trusts, defined benefit corporate schemes and funds of the UK Local Government Pension Scheme, with assets varying in size from USD20 million to USD60 billion.
