Mining company Rio Tinto has appointed a sole custodian for its largest country-specific retirement schemes as multinational companies look to cut costs in the downturn by servicing separate pension assets under one provider.

State Street, the US-based custody bank, has been appointed to take responsibility for the administration of Rio Tinto's pension assets in the UK, the US and Canada. The Anglo-Australian miner took on an additional $9bn (€6.4bn) of pension assets from its takeover of Canadian aluminium producer Alcan last