GERMANY/US – Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein’s new securities lending arm has won its first significant mandate from one of the largest state pension funds in the US.

The State Board of Administration of Florida has appointed DrKW from a line-up of securities lenders for a third party securities lending mandate for the Florida Retirement System - the fourth-largest retirement system in the US with nearly 100 billion dollars in assets.

DrKW established the securities lending business in March 2002 when it appointed Tim Smollen, David Martocci and Robert Boyd of Deutsche’s Global Securities Services. Since March, DrKW has appointed a further four executives from Deutsche, emphasising its intentions to become a major player in the field.

State Street bought Deutsche’s Global Securities Services unit in November last year. GSS was regarded as a low-profit business by the German bank.

DrKW is the marketing name within the corporates and markets division of Dresdner Bank AG, a member of the Allianz Group.