The UK AA Pension Scheme has appointed Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management as its fiduciary manager, adding £800m (€932m) to the firm’s total client assets under management.

The scheme is the long-standing defined benefit (DB) arrangement operated by the AA for its workforce, with total scheme assets of over £1.4bn and some 24,000 members.

This mandate win builds on Van Lanschot Kempen’s focus on fiduciary management and its ability to provide a fully bespoke and innovative service for clients focused entirely on their specific circumstances.

Steve Delo, chair of PAN Trustees and independent chair of trustees for the AA fund, said the appointment came after an “extensive selection exercise” over an “extended period of time”.

He said: “We were impressed with the partnership model Van Lanschot Kempen operates and the collaborative nature of their lead team members.”

Delo added that trustees were confident that Kempen could work productively with the scheme’s investment committee to achieve the returns required from its growth portfolio and dovetail effectively with the scheme’s  liability-driven investment (LDI) programme.

Kempen will also be responsible for performing governance and management role with scheme’s portfolio of illiquid assets.

Jay Stewart, chair of the scheme’s investment committee, added that Kempen’s team brings considerable intellectual power to their portfolio decision-making and are strong communicators of their investment ideas.

He said: “We expect them to play a key role in the investment governance model we operate and enable trustee energies to be focused on top level, strategic matters.”

Vicky Casebourne, head of institutional relations UK at Van Lanschot Kempen, said the selection exercise was “rigorous” and focused on finding an investment partner to ensure a bespoke investment solution tailored to the trustee board needs.

“Ensuring the best possible member outcomes were central to this selection, and in an ever-evolving pensions industry, innovation and specialism in this area were key criteria to ensure this,” she added.

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Pamela is IPE's UK correspondent. Before joining IPE in May 2023, she spent five years writing about the insurance industry. During her career so far she won awards for Most Promising Newcomer in 2020 and Best Investigative Article in 2022 from the British Insurance Brokers Association, and was also highly commended at the WTW Media Awards for Insurance Features Journalist of The Year.View full Profile

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