The Co-operative Pension Scheme (Pace): The Co-operative Bank Section recently published its Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5 April 2025.
DC Section Assets Transferred and Closed to New Contributions
All investment assets previously held in the Bank Section of Pace DC were transferred to the Co-operative Bank Pension Savings Plan with Legal & General in March 2025. This action followed a consultation with active members. As part of this transfer, DC AVCs were also moved to the Co-operative Bank Pension Savings Plan with Legal & General in March 2025. Bank DB AVCs remain within the Bank Section under a new policy number. The Bank Section of Pace DC ceased accepting new contributions on 28 February 2025 (page 4, 15, 22).
Defined Benefit Section Investment Strategy Shift to Bulk Annuities
In 2020, the Trustee entered into a bulk annuity policy with PIC for a portion of the Defined Benefit section’s pensioner liabilities. In December 2022, an additional bulk annuity policy was established with Rothesay, covering the remaining pensioner and deferred liabilities of the Defined Benefit Section. This involved transferring approximately £1.1 billion of the Section’s assets to Rothesay. These bulk annuity policies are intended to provide all benefits due from the Section to members. The only remaining defined benefit assets consist of cash held by the Section to meet future costs (page 27).
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