Pension Corporation’s acquisition of Telent and its plans for its pension scheme presented such an enormous conflict of interest that the Pension Regulator needed to appoint independent and unremoveable trustees in order to safeguard members’ benefits, according to an appeals panel reviewing the decision.

The move is a blow to the business model of Pension Corporation and others like it who hope to be able to buy the assets and liabilities of pension schemes and manage them at a lower cost and higher profit than a regulated insurance company could.