£8.5bn Lothian Pension Fund strengthens investment process thanks to Charles River

The £8.5 billion Lothian Pension Fund has streamlined its investment management processes after adopting a new system developed by State Street subsidiary Charles River.

Doug Heron, chief executive of the Lothian Pension Fund. Picture: Contributed

Lothian Pension Fund is one of the largest schemes of its kind, with more than 85,000 members and encompassing some 90 employers.

The implementation of the Charles River Investment Management Solution (Charles River IMS) will also provide capacity for expansion of the fund’s third-party services.

Doug Heron, chief executive of Lothian Pension Fund, said: “With an ambition to increase our internal investment capability and to eliminate the gap between us and the quality managers in the market, we’re strengthening a number of areas of our team and partnering with Charles River gives us access to core technology which supports our operations and compliance arrangements.

“Charles River’s solutions provide us with the data and trading capabilities which allow us to stay up-to-date with state-of-the-art trading capabilities and remain compliant with ever-changing regulations.”

Gavin Lavelle, managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Charles River, added: “As the pension market evolves, asset owners, such as Lothian, are seeking ways to optimise their investment strategies and better manage risk. Our solution provides investment managers and asset owners greater operational efficiencies.”

Financial services giant State Street has some $34 trillion (£26tn) in assets under custody and administration and $3.1tn in assets under management as of the end of December. The group employs some 39,000 people globally, including in Edinburgh.