Five to seven years ago, pension pooling was tipped to be all the rage, with Ikea, Siemens, Unilever, Nestlé and Royal Dutch Shell blazing the trail. The much-anticipated boom in market activity never materialised as the financial crisis, tax hurdles and the high cost of implementation dampened enthusiasm. But, more recently, pooling appears to be creeping back on the agenda as corporate sponsors seek greater efficiencies in their pension funds.

Global custodians and fund managers have long sought to develop vehicles that enable multinationals running pension schemes around the world to pool the assets and liabilities of these schemes. By pooling assets and diverse investments, schemes seek to improve their performance by enhancing efficiency and lowering costs.