National Australia Bank's (NAB) Asset Servicing division has reached an agreement with BNY Mellon to distribute BNY's private equity administration and middle office services to NAB's superannuation and fund manager clients.

The new services were launched partly as a reaction to increasing interest from investment managers seeking to outsource some of their back and middle office functions, NAB Asset Servicing executive general manager Leigh Watson said.

"Whatever part of the value chain or wealth/superannuation sector you play in, our clients are looking to focus their attention on their main skill set and their main raison d'etre," Watson said.

"It makes good business sense to focus on your expertise and look for help from other specialists and that is what is happening. The GFC (Global Financial Crisis) probably put a sharper focus on optimising economics," Watson said.

NAB and BNY Mellon have a 14 year relationship in custodian services and Watson said this agreement gave clients access to a wider range of products in BNY's arsenal.

"We felt that expanding our existing global custody partnership would result in the most tangible benefits for our customers. As our customers' investment strategies evolve, we have the flexibility to assess the solutions they need and deliver world class local and global products tailored to their needs," he said.

The continued increase in superannuation assets in Australia, and further injections from the Cooper recommendations to increase the Superannuation Guarantee rate from 9 per cent to 12 per cent, have resulted in a continued higher allocation to unlisted assets such as private equity, Watson said.

"We, therefore, need to deliver competitive product and service capability to our customers that can support these assets."