The Border to Coast Pensions Partnership has announced two new propositions after its private markets programme grew to £16bn.

The programme received an additional £3.6bn from its Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Partner Funds in April 2024. The latest commitments included £0.5bn for Border to Coast’s new UK Opportunities Strategy launched in April and £1.2bn to its second Climate Opportunities offering, Climate Opportunities 2. This proposition invests in projects and businesses aimed at decarbonising the global economy and achieving net zero goals. The UK opportunities strategy focuses on energy, housing, transport, growth finance, and supporting new building and development across the UK. To date, approximately £12bn has been invested as part of the private market programme, with a 28 per cent reduction in fees for partner funds since 2019.

Dalriada has appointed Assure UK and Cooper Parry to its panel of auditors, the first of several panels to deliver services to Dalriada Together clients.

The firms will provide audit services for trustee annual reports and accounts for Dalriada Together clients. Dalriada Together is a pension consolidation model offering trusteeship, governance, administration, and daily operations while maintaining investment control and maintaining the scheme journey. The panel is designed to ensure clients will not pay more than the rate of inflation for their annual trustee account audit and will generate an average of 10 per cent saving for clients. Dalriada plans to expand the panel to include other firms as the solution grows.

Bravura has been appointed to the National Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Procurement Framework for Integrated Service Provider (ISP) and Member Data Services.

The appointment is expected to enable Bravura to provide LGPS Funds, investment pools, their employers, and wider public sector pension schemes access to the pensions dashboards ecosystem via its ISP, Dashboards Connect. This is the second iteration of the Member Data Services Procurement Framework, after it was extended to offer additional support for LGPS funds as they prepare for the introduction of pensions dashboards.

First Actuarial has opened a new office in central London amid growing demand.

The office, located near Farringdon tube station, will open in the summer of 2024 and will be overseen by former Quattro Pensions Managing Director, Andrew Allsopp, who recently joined First Actuarial. Commenting on the new office opening, Allsopp said: “We see London as an important hub where we can grow a new layer of talented employees. We’re also keen to build closer relationships with independent trustees. The vast majority of them have a London presence, and even those that don’t are highly active in the capital. We’re recruiting talented people who can fit into our client-first culture in London.”

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