Investment - Articles - Royal Mail Pension Plan select BlackRock to manage DB assets

 Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP) announced that it had selected BlackRock to manage its £8.8 billion pension scheme assets as an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO).

 Members of RMPP’s investment team will move to BlackRock and continue to manage the scheme’s investments, while benefitting from the scale execution and risk management capabilities of a full-service asset manager, and supported by its expertise and technology resources.

 Richard Law-Deeks, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Mail Pension Plan, said: “As ever, the Trustee’s main priority is to ensure the retirement benefits of our members are well managed and protected. Our in-house team has delivered strong investment performance during some challenging markets over the last twenty plus years, meaning we are well funded. It is now time to consider how to lock in the stability and continuity of this position. With this agreement, we ensure that key institutional knowledge is retained, while benefitting from BlackRock’s wider expertise and scale. We have long worked with BlackRock and look forward now to deepening that partnership further.”

 Sarah Melvin, Head of BlackRock’s UK business, said: “We’re proud to be entrusted with managing the Royal Mail Pension Plan’s assets. The scheme has been run exceptionally well by the in-house team to date and we’re excited to welcome them to BlackRock to continue to serve the Plan’s evolving needs.

 “BlackRock has been partnering with businesses as an outsourced chief investment officer since 2005, helping schemes meet their objectives and providing financial security for their members. We manage the savings of over 11 million people in the UK, and we believe strongly in putting people’s retirement needs at the heart of everything we do.”

 The transfer of staff and assets completed on 1 February.