Mercer has been appointed by Honda Group-UK Pension Scheme Trustee (Honda Trustee) to provide fiduciary management services for their £1.7bn UK pension scheme. The Honda Trustee selected Mercer following a review of their own governance approach. Mercer will provide operational and implementation support to help the Honda Trustee focus on their strategic funding objectives. The appointment further grows Mercer’s fiduciary business which is on track to fund c£7bn in UK fiduciary management assets in 2021. Building on its global capabilities ($400bn of assets under management), Mercer’s total UK assets under management now stands at £59bn as of 30 September 2021.
Commenting on the appointment, Chair of the Honda Trustee Investment Sub-Committee, Mike Godfrey, said: “We were looking for a partner to help us achieve our investment objectives for the Scheme. The Mercer team gave us the confidence that they have the skills and expertise to deliver a highly bespoke solution, specific to our requirements. Key to their appointment was understanding of our needs and the quality of the bespoke solution to achieve our objectives, including the continued integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) and climate change considerations into our investment strategy. ”
Dan Melley, Partner and Head of UK Investments, Mercer said: “We are delighted to have been selected as fiduciary manager by Honda Trustee and look forward to partnering with them as their requirements evolve. We expect the trend towards larger schemes using fiduciary management solutions to continue. In particular, market uncertainty, governance burdens and increased focus on ESG integration seem to be driving renewed consideration of fiduciary management solutions. Moving forward, we see a great opportunity to support trustees of defined benefit schemes in reviewing their governance structures as they plan their ‘end game’ solutions.”
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