UK- Greater Gwent (Torfaen) County Borough Council has appointed ABN AMRO Mellon to provide global custody and security services for its £700m (e1.1bn) employee pension scheme.

In addition to core custody services, ABN AMRO Mellon is providing investment accounting, securities lending, performance measurement and analytics to the fund.

The appointment is the first time Gwent has direct engagement of a global custodian. Philip Nash, director of finance for the Council, said: "our decision to appoint a global custodian was based on an increased need for consolidated reporting and the desire to benefit from value-added services.

"ABN AMRO Mellon demonstrated that it has the best systems, services and people to meet these requirements."

The Gwent scheme has 32,000 members, including 18,000 active contributors, 4,000 on preserved benefits and 10,000 pensioners.