# Melli Bank plc The Pension & Life Assurance Scheme

Melli Bank plc The Pension & Life Assurance Scheme is a Pension Fund based in London, United Kingdom.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Pension Fund
- **Headquarters:** London, United Kingdom
- **Region:** Europe
- **Address:** London, United Kingdom
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Pension & Life Assurance Scheme of Melli Bank plc is the legacy corporate defined-benefit plan for the UK banking subsidiary of Bank Melli Iran. Melli Bank plc has operated in London since 1967, primarily serving trade finance flows, but its pension scheme operates as a ring-fenced trust governed by a corporate trustee — Melli Bank Pension Trustees Limited — under the UK Pensions Regulator. The scheme exists entirely within the UK's statutory funding framework, meaning its assets are legally separated from both the sponsor and its ultimate Tehran-based parent. The scheme's investment portfolio, domiciled in the United Kingdom, reflects the conservative liability-matching posture typical of a mature corporate DB plan. Growth assets such as public equities or real estate are held, if at all, only to the extent permitted by the scheme's specific funding agreement and risk budget. The scheme does not source direct or co-investment deal flow. The sponsoring employer, Melli Bank plc, is run by CEO Davood Mohammad Rezaei. The bank itself is highly concentrated, with a narrow commercial banking license in the UK. The scheme's trustee board, Melli Bank Pension Trustees Limited, carries the statutory fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of beneficiaries independent of the sponsor. The scheme's structural differentiator is its isolation from the liquidity and capital-formation ecosystem that most family-office and institutional allocators participate in. It cannot function as a co-investment partner, nor does it seek external capital. It is a closed, self-contained liability pool whose investment posture is entirely dictated by UK regulatory solvency metrics and the sponsor covenant strength — making it a strictly internal capital story rather than a participant in the broader alternatives market.

## People

- Davood Mohammad Rezaei — CEO of Melli Bank plc (Sponsoring Employer)

## Questions

### Who is the ultimate parent of the scheme's sponsor?

The sponsoring employer, Melli Bank plc, is a wholly owned UK subsidiary of Bank Melli Iran, which is the oldest state-owned bank in Iran. The scheme itself is a separate legal trust with its assets held solely for the benefit of its UK-based members and is governed by UK law, but the sponsor's parentage creates a unique geopolitical overlay that influences the sponsor's long-term covenant strength.

### Is the scheme open to external investors or co-investment partners?

No. As a closed corporate defined-benefit pension scheme, it exists only to pay benefits to current and former employees of Melli Bank plc in the UK. It does not raise outside capital, participate in co-investments, or function as a pooled investment vehicle available to third-party allocators.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z

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