Delivering cost savings and peace of mind for a Building Society DB scheme

The Challenge

Furness Building Society has been serving its customers and community for more than 160 years, with a clear mission statement of securing brighter financial futures for its members.  

The client required assistance ensuring its pension scheme worked efficiently for all parties – in terms of cost, governance and member outcomes. Historically, valuations had required long negotiations management and legacy legal issues were not resolved. By leveraging its relationship with our team, built up over 10 years, Furness Building Society was able to implement a simpler, sustainable way of operating its DB pension scheme, with the Enplan solution at its heart. 

Our Approach

Thanks to a significant track record of advising Building Society schemes, the team was able to quickly identify areas in which better outcomes were achievable. At the heart of the Enplan approach was a genuinely open and collaborative relationship with the client – agreeing a long-term plan for the scheme to get to self-sufficiency.

Specifically, Enplan: 

• Established a new, professional trustee governance model partnering with Entrust, an independent trustee company, for management of the scheme
• Reduced costs due to the economies of scale of consolidation 
• Saved significantly on investment manager fees 
• Demonstrated understanding of the unique challenges of the sector, including ICAAP requirements 
• Continued to deliver all key pensions services: administration, actuarial and investment 

Saved the client management time whilst ensuring they maintained strategic oversight and control of the scheme

Impact

The quality of the Enplan service needed to match that of the client’s and a productive working relationship grounded in trust. With that foundation we could quickly diagnose and remedy any issues as efficiently as possible. An ambitious roadmap was set out and adhered to – with each valuation treated as a milestone rather than a laboured negotiation and legacy benefit issues were resolved– ensuring all stakeholder expectations were met and surpassed. When we took on the scheme, we set a plan to reach a fully funded position on self-sufficiency in 10 years. We reached it in 5 years.

The client can now focus on their business, whilst their pension scheme benefits from market-leading investment and fiduciary expertise, at a fraction of the cost.