HOVE insurance giant Legal and General has announced a massive new boost to its business.

It has completed a £4.4 billion buy-in for British Airways’s pension scheme, covering nearly 22,000 people.

A buy-in is an insurance policy against the risks facing a pension scheme which secures the pensions of members This is the largest ever bulk annuity policy arranged with a UK pension scheme.

A buy-in is an insurance policy against the risks facing a pension scheme which secures the pensions of members.

This means that Legal and General will effectively take over the liabilities for 22,000 British Airways pensioners, but they will not be running the scheme.

Nigel Wilson, Chief Executive, Legal and General Group, said: “I’m delighted that Legal and General has transacted the largest bulk annuity to date in the UK for British Airways’ pension scheme.

“As we indicated at the half year results, the second half of 2018 is likely to be a record six months for our PRT (pension risk transfer) business and we expect to announce further transactions in the next few months.

“We are actively quoting on £27 billion of UK PRT deals demonstrating the strong demand for insurance, supported by increasing affordability, as trustees seek to improve security for members and companies look to remove legacy liabilities.

“Legal and General’s combination of longevity and investment management expertise uniquely positions us to deliver at scale, providing solutions that benefit schemes and their members.”

Pension risk transfer is the ‘risk’ involved in a pension scheme, for example the risk of the member living longer than expected or the investments not doing as well as expected.

Laura Mason, CEO Legal and General Retirement Institutional, said: “We are proud to have delivered this ground-breaking transaction, the largest bulk annuity transaction completed in the UK market.

“This is a great example of Legal and General delivering for UK companies and their pension members, enabling pension schemes to provide security to their pensioners in retirement.”