Old Mutual has teamed up with California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) to launch eSecLending, believed to be the first a web-based auction system to go live for securities lending.

Calpers, the largest US pension fund with $177bn (€206bn) in assets, participated in the first eSecLending auction last week. The auction process - the first of which was held on 25 October - allows large pension funds, mutual funds and other large investors including online custodians to capture lower costs, improved performance and other advantages.