UK – Adair Turner, former chair of the Pensions Commission, has been appointed non-executive director of Mark Wood’s UK defined benefit pension buyout firm Paternoster.

He starts with immediate effect, and joins seven other non-executive directors.

These include Deutsche Bank’s Yves Dermaux, IOMA Fund and Investment Management managing director Philip Scales, former Institute of Actuaries president Jeremy Godford and former Zurich Financial CEO Lord Alexander Park Leitch.

“Right back at the beginning when we were forming the board, Adair was one of the people we spoke to about the business and he expressed enthusiasm to join us but was unable to join us immediately because of other commitments, which he is now clear of, most notably his major report” Paternoster CEO Mark Wood told IPE.

He continued: “Clearly, he has an immense amount of detailed understanding of the pensions market, and in particular the issues facing the funding of long-term liabilities.”

According to Wood, who is former chief executive of Prudential, Turner’s experience, knowledge and relationships will play an important role in Paternoster’s development.

A former director general of the Confederation of British Industry and vice-chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, Turner is currently a non-executive director of United Business Media and Standard Chartered.

He chairs the UK Low Pay Commission and the UK Pensions Commission. He is also a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and CASS Business School, and was recently appointed as an independent cross bench peer in the House of Lords.

The scheme also stated that following approval from the Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) on June 28, it has drawn down its first £250m of capital and is actively seeking mandates.

In April, the buyout venture announced that it had secured £500m of equity financing from a consortium of institutions led by Deutsche Bank and Eton Park International.