Closed life and pension fund consolidator Phoenix Group Holdings plc, owner of the “old” Standard Life Assurance, has announced five new appointments to its bulk purchase annuities (BPA) team.

Mark Fenlon has joined Phoenix from Aviva to lead the annuity client services team, Matt Richards and Rhian Littlewood join from Pension Insurance Corporation and Aon as senior business development managers, and Jack Hill joins from Mercer as senior pricing manager.

Charlotte Fletcher also joins the business as a business development actuary.

Richard and Littlewood will share responsibility for leading the new business transactions team.

Justin Grainger, Phoenix Group’s head of bulk purchase annuities, said: “As we continue to grow our BPA business, we are attracting the best talent in the market and our new cohort of hires is testament to that.

“Our growing team signals our commitment to our customers and to becoming a market leader in the BPA business.”

Phoenix recently announced £1.4 billion of BPA business for 2021, including a £1 billion buy-in with the Pearl Group, one of its own schemes.

Phoenix has £300 billion of assets under administration and 13 million customers.