Canada Life secures £48m oil and gas pension risk transfer

Canada Life completed a £48m full-scheme buy-in with an unnamed oil and gas sector pension scheme, securing benefits for more than 500 pensioner and deferred members. The transaction covers the whole scheme under a buy-in structure.

In a buy-in, the insurance policy is held as an asset of the pension scheme, helping to hedge liability movements without discharging the scheme’s obligations to members directly. Canada Life said the transaction was designed to reduce volatility for the sponsor while providing long-term stability and security for members.

WTW acted as lead broker, scheme actuary, investment adviser and administrator through its OneDB offering. WTW said the transaction strategy has been developed since the adviser’s appointment in 2019 and had included managing illiquid assets as well as securing bespoke benefit features, indicating that the deal required more tailoring than a standard insured transfer.