HS Sole Trustees Ltd has launched Pro Active Trustee Support (PATS), a new dedicated independent trustee arm.

The firm said it began a mission in April to use high-calibre sole trustees to build a more efficient system for the benefit of schemes for whom the traditional trustee model was no longer fit for purpose. It added that the new division would aim to bring the same quality of support to a broader range of UK sponsored defined benefit and defined contribution schemes with more diverse resource requirements, providing existing trustee boards with an added layer of commercial experience, as well as specialist expertise in areas like LDI and fiduciary management. PATS will also take on independent chairman appointments to help boards drive forward and develop more robust governance processes.

Collegia Pension has launched the UK’s first combined auto-enrolment (AE) and personal pension.

The company said it was the UK’s only provider of a digital, app-based, combined AE and personal pension that is approved by both the Financial Conduct Authority and HMRC. The Collegia Pension, which uses 100 per cent ESG compliant funds, can be used by multiple employers simultaneously for an individual employee’s AE requirement and is transportable between employers and can be used simultaneously by workers who are both employed and self-employed. Collegia CEO, Eduardo Chazan, commented: “Employees and the self-employed should have access to a single pension that can stay with them for life. It has to be welcoming, stress free, and critically, must offer real ESG investments and not greenwashed funds.”

River and Mercantile (R&M) has announced its participation in the UK government’s inaugural green gilt issuance.

The firm said its derivatives team will start to incorporate green gilts in client portfolios as part of the firm’s liability driven investment strategy, based either on clients’ preferences as asset owners, or R&M’s own view. The company said it had been possible for it to participate in the green gilt issuance by swapping out of non-green gilts of a similar maturity. R&M managing director, derivatives, Mark Davies, said: “As the manager of pension schemes’ liability hedges, we believe that green gilts offer pension schemes a potentially low-cost and simple governance approach to demonstrate a contribution towards meeting the Paris Agreement, as we know they will be directly invested into green projects.”

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