TPT Investment Management (TPTIM) has signed its first external fiduciary management client, after Dalriada Trustees Limited appointed the firm to support Paradigm Housing’s defined benefit (DB) pension plan.

Dalriada joined TPTIM’s fiduciary platform on 1 October, marking the first time TPTIM has co-signed a fiduciary management agreement with an external trustee, after it launched the standalone fiduciary management offering for UK DB pension schemes last year.

The trustee will receive services through 'DB Connect', TPT’s multi-trust solution designed to provide schemes with many of the benefits of consolidation without joining a master trust.

The service sits alongside TPT’s existing master trust and standalone fiduciary management propositions.

Through DB Connect, schemes can access TPT’s fiduciary management, actuarial, covenant, administration, accounting and secretarial services while retaining their existing structure and trustee board.

TPT said this enables trustees to keep responsibility for member outcomes while generating efficiencies through scale and shared services.

TPTIM client director, Chris Dickins, said the firm was pleased to welcome Dalriada as its first DB Connect client, highlighting the multi-trust model as an "innovative proposition" that brings together TPT’s investment expertise and service culture, rooted in its ownership by a pension fund.

He added that TPTIM looks forward to working with Dalriada to support Paradigm Housing’s pension plan and help the scheme meet its objectives.

Explaning the thinking behind the deal, Dalriada Trustees managing director, Charles Ward, said the trustee board chose DB Connect as a way to enhance services for members while maintaining its core responsibilities.

He noted that Dalriada was continually seeking ways to improve outcomes and manage costs, and that DB Connect’s structure enabled it to do so without altering the existing scheme or trustee arrangements.

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