The Furness Building Society Pension and Assurance Scheme has been transferred to the Enplan Pension Platform, which will provide the scheme with governance, actuarial, investment and administration services.

The scheme, which has assets of around £30m and over 200 members, will receive actuarial, investment and administration services from Isio, whilst Enplan itself is governed by Entrust Pension Limited.

The selection followed a competitive tender process, according to Furness Building Society chief executive officer, Chris Harrison, who said that the appointment will deliver “more efficient and cost-effective DB pension scheme solutions" for the business.

Harrison noted that the scheme had made the decision to transfer into Enplan during the pandemic, despite persistent market volatility, due to the “simplicity of the process” that required “minimal levels of management time”.

Furthermore, he argued that as the effects of the pandemic spread across industries, building societies’ "already-growing focus" on governance had been “significantly accelerated”.

He added: “The immediate positive impact of joining Enplan on our governance has been clear, and we are confident of a successful future relationship between the Furness Building Society and Enplan.”

Isio partner, Andrew Goddard, also stated that there has been a growing demand from building societies for operational consolidators such as Enplan "for some time" to help relieve time pressures on management and improve governance and efficiency.

Entrust director, Stuart Evans, added: “We’re proud to have onboarded the Furness Building Society onto the Enplan platform; a particular success when considering that completion took place during a period defined by uncertainty.

"Overcoming the operational challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic is an achievement for all involved, and we look forward to strengthening the relationship between the Furness Building Society, Entrust and Isio further.”

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