The West Bromwich Building Society Staff Retirement Scheme has completed a £70m buy-in with Canada Life, securing the benefits of all uninsured scheme members, including around 490 deferred members and 400 pensioner members.

LCP acted as risk transfer adviser to the trustee, while legal advice was provided by Gowling WLG. Canada Life was advised by its in-house legal team.

The transaction made use of LCP's Streamlined Buy-in Service, which is specifically designed for schemes looking to do transactions under £200m, and ensured a "smooth and efficient" process.

Trustee chair, Glyn Smith, highlighted the buy-in as a "very important step" for the trustee, byt securing all remaining member benefits with Canada Life.

"We have enjoyed working with Canada Life and LCP, and have been impressed by their responsiveness and by how smoothly the buy-in has been achieved," Smith continued. "We are confident that we have achieved an excellent outcome for our members.”

Canada Life bulk purchase annuities business development director, Shreyas Sridhar, also emphasised the importance of collaboration between the trustee and its advisers in delivering the "outstanding outcome" for the scheme's members.

“In a highly competitive market, which continues to experience significant growth, we are delighted that the trustee has chosen to secure its members’ benefits with Canada Life," Sridhar continued.

"The transaction builds on the renewed momentum in our business, with a particular focus on insuring deferred members.

“We recognised the importance of offering a tailored solution to the trustee that met the needs of the pension scheme, underpinned by Canada Life’s robust financial strength and resilience."

Adding to this, LCP lead adviser to the trustee, Gareth Davies, said: “It has been a pleasure to have advised the trustee on both the first buy-in transaction a decade ago, and this latest buy-in transaction which successfully concludes the scheme’s journey to full buy-in.

“In the current busy market, we continue to see very high levels of engagement for well prepared and well-run processes, which is the hallmark of the LCP Streamlined Buy-in Service.

"I was delighted it helped the trustee obtain several attractive insurer quotations giving them highly competitive pricing and robust terms.”

---