NETHERLANDS - Grafische Bedrijfsfondsen (GBF), the umbrella organisation for the Dutch graphics industry's €10bn pension funds, is to outsource its back office investment activities to KAS Bank.

KAS Bank will take on GBF's investment administration from October 1, with three staff transferring to the supplier.

Simultaneously, KAS Bank will provide an infrastructure to GBF so that the organisation can maintain its focus on for instance investment, risk and cash management, a spokesman for the organisation said.

Paul van Leeuwen, managing director of GBF, said: "The administration of our investment activities increasingly requires state-of-of-the-art securities systems."

"The investments we do are increasingly complex and put higher demands on our investment administration," added the spokesman. "We had to invest so much in this process, that we finally agreed that KAS Bank would be more apt at this, at a more competitive price."

Therefore, GBF has decided to focus on its core, asset management activities and advice to clients, and outsource the investment administration to KAS.

The organisation, with around €10bn in assets under management, has been working with KAS Bank for a number of years, also the bank is GBF's custodian.

Asked if this was a fusion with KAS Bank, the spokesperson said that even though the two firms would be working closely together for mutual benefit, they will remain to separate entities.

Last week KAS Bank says it is well positioned for the burgeoning European asset pooling and pensions market. It reported a 31% increase in first-half pre-tax profits.

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