NETHERLANDS - The Dutch 525 million euro pension fund, Stichting Pensioenfonds Wolters Kluwer Nederland, has appointed manager of managers Frank Russell to run three multi-manager equity funds.

The assets will be invested in multi-manager equity funds covering Japan, Pacific-Basin and Emerging Markets regions. The size of the mandates was not disclosed.

Says the pension fund’s director, Cees van Schie: "We have switched over the active investing for these regions, and opted for a multi-manager approach because we see diversification between different investment styles and specialised asset managers as a sound way of implementing active asset management."

The manager of managers market has experienced large growth in the Netherlands. Frank Russell saw 35% growth in the market last year, and now manages around e525 million in assets for Dutch clients.

According to Frank Russell's Oscar Pesch, small and medium sized pension plans are increasingly willing to outsource the selection, implementation and control of money managers in order to focus on strategic issues facing the fund. This trend is supported by the introduction of onerous funding and reserve calculation rules by the Dutch pensions regulator, PVK, and increasing complexity of financial markets.

"Many pension plans are also starting to look at manager and style risk that may be inherent in the way they have traditionally run plan assets using one or perhaps two balanced managers," he claims. "After the swings in the capital markets over the last five years many Dutch pension plans are keen to take a style neutral approach."

Frank Russell now manages in excess of 15 billion euros for European investors.