Previously, Northern Trust secured GBP710m mandate from Health Foundation, and the GBP881m from the National Trust.
Nesta chief investment and financial officer Matt Mead said that as a newly created charity the trust was looking for a custodian that could demonstrate a good track record in providing solutions for charities, foundations and endowments and understand its distinct challenges.
"In particular we were looking for an asset servicing provider that could support our investments in a broad mixture of asset classes and provide leading broker dealer and transition management services," Mead said.
As of 31 March 2012, Northern Trust had assets under custody of $4.6 trillion, and assets under investment management of $716.5bn.
