News - Irish Life Corporate Business
Irish Life has completed a €133 million bulk annuity onboarding transaction with the trustees of Greencore plc’s Irish defined benefit pension scheme. It marks the largest bulk annuity transaction to take place in the Irish market over the last year.
The €133 million ‘bulk annuity’ contract is an insurance policy taken out by the Trustee of the Greencore Group pension scheme with Irish Life and is held by the Trustee as an asset of the scheme’s wider investment portfolio. The policy reduces the investment and longevity risk of the scheme by taking out insurance against these risks with Irish Life. The scheme sponsor, Greencore plc, has fully supported the process and views the transaction as a significant de-risking step for the scheme.
This type of pension risk transfer is now commonplace for maturing defined benefit pension schemes and 2022 saw €0.5bn in Irish transactions across a range of schemes. This Irish market is still dwarfed by the UK market however, which had over £35bn in transactions in 2022. The Irish pension risk transfer market is expected to see significant growth over the course of 2023 with the rise in interest rates, widening in credit spreads and improvement in scheme funding positions.
Commenting on the transaction, Oisin O’Shaughnessy, Managing Director, Irish Life Corporate Business said: “We are delighted to support the trustees of the Greencore scheme with this transfer, enabling their pension scheme de-risking strategy. This is an important step in providing further security for all members.
Irish Life has seen a huge jump in its defined benefit buy-in business, a market that has now topped a billion euro per annum on the back of high interest rates.
Please note that our Ulster Bank accounts are now due to close. It is important to understand that Irish Life may not have any visibility of or receive notification of any payment made to our Ulster Bank accounts after 5th May 2023. Therefore, it is important to be mindful of regulatory requirements and employer responsibility around the remittance of monthly pension contributions and to ensure all payments are made to the correct Irish Life account with AIB.
As you may know, both Ulster Bank and KBC are exiting the Irish market. Irish Life currently bank with Ulster Bank but will be changing providers and banking with AIB going forward.
You might have received a communication from Irish Life noting that our new AIB bank accounts are now open and that if you make payments to Irish Life such as monthly pension contributions or risk premiums, these should now be made to our new AIB accounts.
Below you will see the Ulster Bank accounts currently in use and the corresponding new AIB account that will be replacing the existing bank account. It is important to check the Ulster Bank account that you currently make payments to and update these details to the corresponding AIB account for future payments.
Pension Payments
Irish Life will close for the Christmas period on Friday, 22 December 2023 at 12pm and will re-open on Tuesday, 2 January 2024 at 9am.
Read this news item to find out what this means for you, depending on the method you use for paying regular contributions.
Irish Life launched the innovative enhanced annuity a number of years ago. However, customer take up has been very low and following a review of alternative customer outcomes, we plan to cease offering our enhanced annuity product to new customers from the end of 2022. This decision is largely driven by the low level of take-up and the challenges of keeping this complex product operational while sales volumes remain at this low level.
We are delighted to announce our award win of Irish Pension Scheme of the Year for our EMPOWER Master Trust at this year’s 2022 Irish Pension Awards.
This award reflects all the hard work and dedication the team in Corporate Business provides in supporting our Employers, Trustees and Brokers to help our members build better financial futures.
When making any lump sum once-off payments to Irish Life Corporate Business, please note that we will only ever ask you to transfer money into an Irish Life account, see details here.
Irish Life Corporate Business remains a customer of Ulster Bank and we will communicate with our customers when our new bank details are available.
If in any doubt, please contact us on 01 704 1845.
The latest episode of the David McWilliams Podcast features our own Sandra Rockett - Director of Wealth & Corporate Distribution Irish Life Investment Managers aiming to inform the people of Ireland about the crucial link between pensions and the planet.
Market Value Adjustment (MVA) to the Secured Performance Fund, the Capital Protection Fund and the Pension Capital Protected Fund.
Current Market Value Adjustments (MVA)
- With effect from 15 November 2023, the Market Value Adjustment (MVA) for the Pension Capital Protected Fund is 2% of the published price.
- With effect from 12 April 2023, the Market Value Adjustment (MVA) for the Capital Protection Fund is 0% of the published price.
- With effect from 23 December 2013, the Market Value Adjustment (MVA) for the Secured Performance Fund is 0% of the published price.
You get one chance to get it right first time.
The Government is embarking on a progressive and positive reform programme which will a see an Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System introduced in Ireland. As it says on the tin, the aim of Auto Enrolment is to make the decision for workers to save for a pension easier. It also makes it easier for employers to offer colleagues a workplace pension.
