UK - The £2bn (€2.9bn) Devon County Council Pension Fund is reviewing its custodians JP Morgan and State Street, who together hold an £800m (€1.2bn) custody mandate for the fund.

Barry White of Devon County Council told IPE that the council has decided that "now is a good time to review the custody mandates". He declined give further comment on the custodians' performance.

White added that both JP Morgan and State Street are welcome to retender.

The custody mandates, which were split up into one lot of £250m and another of £550m, will be put together into one £800m mandate.

"The remaining assets are held in a variety of unitised and collective vehicles with their own custody arrangements," according to the official tender document put out by the council.

The council said that the provision of custody services could include settlements, safekeeping, income processing, proxy voting, securities lending, taxation, reporting and compliance monitoring.

Devon, advised by London-based consultant Thomas Murray, said the contract will be for three years, with a council option to extend for an additional two years in annual increments.

The council envisages between five and 12 participants, stating the size of the market as an objective criterion for choosing the limited number of candidates.

The award will go to the most economically advantageous tender in terms of for instance economic, financial and technical capacity.

The time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate is April 16.

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