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Scottish Widows completes ICI fund buy-in

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scottishwidowEdinburgh-based Scottish Widows has secured a £630 million pensioner buy-in deal for the ICI Pension Fund.

The transaction marks the largest ever external bulk annuity transaction to date for the life insurance arm of Lloyds Banking Group and covers more than 4,000 of the fund’s pensioner members.

The deal follows several buy-ins completed by the Fund since March 2014.

The deal sees Scottish Widows added to the trustee’s insurer panel to be considered for further bulk annuity transactions as it continues its de-risking strategy.

Scottish Widows said the completion of the transaction was the result of working together with the trustee over several months.

Jeff Sayers, managing director of bulk annuities and investment strategy at Scottish Widows, said: “We have now completed four pensioner buy-in arrangements, ranging from £50m to £630m, with a total of more than £1.25 billion. We have built a strong and experienced capability in this market and are delighted that trustees, employers and their advisers are choosing Scottish Widows as their long-term partner.”

Heath Mottram, CEO of the ICI Pension Fund, said: “This buy-in is the result of significant work by the Trustee over the last five months, and further builds on the Fund’s strong de-risking foundations. The Trustee is delighted to add Scottish Widows to its de-risking panel, further enabling it to continue to improve the security of members’ benefits.”

Emma Watkins, director of bulk annuities at Scottish Widows, added: “We are delighted to have been chosen by the Trustee of the ICI Pension Fund on this significant buy-in arrangement and look forward to becoming a long term de-risking partner for them. We have worked closely with the Trustee and their advisers to develop a bespoke solution over a number of months and this transaction demonstrates Scottish Widows’ ability to provide innovative de-risking solutions to large pension schemes.”

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