All 15 management mandates for the multibillion National Pensions Reserve Fund - created to part-fund public service and social welfare pensions from 2025 - have been allocated, the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has confirmed.

While most of the successful managers will remain unnamed until contracts have been ratified, it has emerged that Morgan Stanley has been selected as transition manager.

This crucial role involves co-ordinating the investment policies of the 10 strands which comprise the overall fund and can include derivatives activity aimed at ensuring that over-exposure to particular sectors does not occur.

The NTMA also disclosed yesterday that a contract for global custodian to the fund was signed earlier this week, with the party in question likely to be identified in the coming days.

The NTMA announced in January that it had appointed Barclays Global Investors and a Bank of Ireland Asset Management/State Street joint venture to manage the €2.9 billion passively-managed equities element of the fund.

It is understood that further mandates may be awarded to new or existing managers as the fund progresses, should its governing commission view this as desirable.

NTMA director Mr John Corrigan said 46 per cent of the fund, or €3.7 billion, had been invested, with the remainder due to be invested in coming weeks.

This balance will be invested in two stages, with the exact timing kept secret because of its potential to move markets.

Mr Corrigan, addressing the annual conference of the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF), said the fund had achieved a return of 3.3 per cent over its first nine months of existence last year.

Earlier, the conference heard that a forthcoming EU Directive on pensions provision could reduce Irish pension returns by introducing restrictions on investments.

IAPF chairman Mr John Feely said Irish pension funds adopted the "prudent person" approach, a system whereby investment freedom is tempered only by what is considered an appropriate risk level.