Enplan adds Nottingham Building Society to defined benefit (DB) consolidation platform

Nottingham, UK. 10 June 2024: Enplan, the fast-growing DB consolidation platform, operated by Entrust – part of professional services group, Gateley – and Isio, is adding Nottingham Building Society to its growing client list. Nottingham Building Society is the fifth building society to join Enplan, the one-stop-shop governance and operational solution for DB schemes, with governance and secretarial support

Following a comprehensive review of its DB scheme operation in 2023, NBS initiated a competitive selection process, to modernise and future-proof the scheme’s pension management for the benefit of members. Key considerations included trustee succession, support for scheme members and time management efficiency, whilst keeping in view the potential of a streamlined path towards the scheme’s buy-out.

After a lengthy evaluation process, NBS selected Enplan due to the platform’s fully bundled solution, industry-leading offering, member support, competitive pricing, efficient access to investment markets and its demonstrated success in facilitating buy-out transitions for smaller schemes.

The Society will benefit from Enplan’s new investment platform, developed in collaboration with Schroders, to boost investment, monitoring and digital reporting capabilities. This is anticipated to generate significant savings on a yearly basis for the scheme. It benefits from Schroders’ advanced Liability-Driven Investing and Cashflow-Driven Investing capabilities, and their open architecture approach to constructing growth portfolios.

Enplan was launched in response to a significant consolidation opportunity emerging in the DB marketplace. It provides smaller DB pensions schemes with a one-stop-shop governance and operational solution that saves schemes time and money, while enabling them to retain their original independent legal structure and identity. Enplan has now onboarded more than 60 schemes and is responsible for close to £1.5bn of DB pension scheme assets. Operational consolidators such as Enplan provide economies of scale through bundled services and governance.

Richard Hassan, Partner and Scheme Actuary at Isio, said: “Isio is committed to modernising the DB pension scheme sector and is thrilled to extend our expertise to more of the building society sector. We understand the importance of efficient and effective pension solutions for legacy schemes and we are delighted to welcome Nottingham Building Society to the Enplan family. By leveraging our innovative pensions management approach, we can continue to provide better outcomes for our clients and their members so all schemes can benefit from a better service, regardless of their size.”

Anthony Murphy, Chief Financial Officer, at Nottingham Building Society, commented: “I’m pleased with how seamless the transition has been, thanks to the efforts of the Enplan team. Their commitment to efficiency is evident in how quickly they delivered our first valuation after taking on the scheme, whilst crucially allowing us to continue to improve our offering for scheme members.”

Jessica Pigg, Trustee Associate at Entrust Pension Limited, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Nottingham Building Society to the platform and support the society with the running of its DB pension scheme. Enplan is increasingly being recognised across the building society sector as an offering which understands the challenges of the industry in a pensions context and one which can manage those challenges, and the associated risks, effectively.