LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - British insurer Aviva

has completed a 1.5 billion pound ($1.96 billion) bulk annuity

buy-in deal with Michelin Pension and Life Assurance Plan,

adviser XPS said on Wednesday.

The deal is Aviva's largest bulk annuity transaction to date

and the biggest announced in the British market this year, the

companies said in a statement.

Bulk annuity deals - in which a company transfers its

defined benefit, or final salary, pension scheme to an insurer -

have become popular in recent years as corporates seek to

offload pensions risk from their balance sheets.

Bulk annuity volumes this year are likely to come in a

little below a record 49 billion pounds reached in 2023,

consultants LCP said in a report on Wednesday.

($1 = 0.7652 pounds)