BT appoints Mercer to manage executive arm of its pension scheme

BT has appointed Mercer as a strategic partner to the executive arm of its pension scheme.

Mercer will work with BT Pension Scheme Management on the selection of managers, mandate construction across a range of equity and fixed income portfolios, and implementation for certain assets.

The relationship was initiated with a delegated mandate of £480 million for European equities (excluding UK) and has extended to other long-term investment mandates.

The telecom services organisation’s UK pension scheme has total assets of over £32bn.

Frank Naylor, head of investments for BT Pension Scheme, said: “We were impressed with the breadth of Mercer's capability, and [its] desire and commitment to work with us as a strategic partner differentiated them from their competition.

“[Its] ability not only to advise but also to be able to execute was key to our decision to appoint [it].”

Amit Popat, a partner at Mercer, added: “In the past two years, Mercer and BTPS have worked on allocating over £4bn in investment mandates.

"This appointment by BTPS reinforces our view that an ever-increasing number of pension fund clients, large and small, will be looking to their advisers to help implement investment solutions going forward.”