Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, has made three hires to its defined benefit solutions business.
Kieran Mistry joins as senior business development manager and Alex Webb and Lauren Doherty join as pricing actuaries. Standard Life says they will all focus on the company’s growing presence in the Bulk Purchase Annuity sector.
Mistry joins the company from Hymans Robertson, where he worked for ten years as a pension consultant, specialising in pension risk transfer. Mistry has been involved in building advisory packages centred on new risk transfer solutions and has advised on some of the largest bulk annuity transactions in the market to date. He will be in charge of leading deals and improving our proposition in his new job.
Webb comes to the new business transactions team from Willis Towers Watson, where he served as a consultant assisting pension scheme trustees and sponsors on long-term strategy and risk management. PwC’s Doherty has joined the team.
These appointments, according to Standard Life, come after a very active time of BPA transaction activity in the second half of 2021. Most recently, a series of sizeable deals were announced to the market, including a £1.8bn pensioner buy-in with the Imperial Tobacco Pension Fund, and a £1.7bn full scheme buy-in with the Gallaher Pension Scheme.
Standard Life managing director of defined benefit solutions Justin Grainger says: “BPA activity in the market really gathered pace in the second half of 2021 and we expect that momentum to continue this year. These new appointments bring additional expertise to our already well-established team.
“Kieran, Alex and Lauren are joining the business at a really exciting time. We hold a unique position within the market, with Phoenix Group’s financial strength coupled with recognition of the Standard Life brand – a strong combination which enables us to meet the needs of trustees and end members alike, as an increasing number of schemes look to de-risk.”