Abbey National outsources funds

Abbey National, the one time Bank of Ireland takeover target, has begun outsourcing the management of some of its £29bn investment funds, dividing them up between a host of primarily US owned global companies.

The bank said on Tuesday that it had appointed State Street Global Advisors, JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management and Barclays Global Investors to run its biggest fund, the £1.2bn UK Growth Unit Trust.