July 2025
25Jul

State of the nation: DB endgames – where are we now and what’s next?

By Laura McLaren & Lauren Branney  For those managing defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, it’s a pivotal and exciting time. The pensions landscape has changed significantly in recent years, opening up new strategic possibilities. We’ve seen record-breaking activity in the bulk annuity market and growing innovation in consolidation, and alternative risk transfer, leading to new settlement options. We’ve also seen more schemes considering the potential benefits of running on. We explore how the DB pensions environment has shifted, and what this could...

July 25, 2025
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25Jul

UK. Over half DB schemes view regulation as biggest risk to endgame strategy

More than half (51.6 per cent) of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes view regulation as the greatest risk to their endgame strategy, according to research from Hymans Robertson. The consultancy’s State of the Nation paper, part of its Excellence in Endgames hub, showed that aside from regulation, schemes identified investment risk (25.8 per cent), longevity risk (19.4 per cent), and sponsor covenant (3.2 per cent) as other key concerns in pursuing their endgame strategies. Additionally, the report showed that among those considering running on as...

July 25, 2025
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04Jul

US. Asset Gains for 100 Largest Public Pensions Surge $98B in May; PRT Costs Decline

The 100 largest public defined benefit plans in the U.S. raked in $98 billion in asset gains during May thanks to a 2.4% investment gain during the month, according to Milliman’s Public Pension Funding Index. It was the funds’ best monthly market performance in more than a year. The consulting and actuarial firm said the strong gains boosted their estimated funded level to 81.1% from 79.6% a month earlier. It also said that the deficit between the estimated plan assets and liabilities...

July 4, 2025
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June 2025
20Jun

PAYG Pensions in a Post-Growth Economy: A Case Study Analysis

By Christine Corlet Walker, Dario Leoni & Tim Jackson Ecological economists have increasingly warned that continual reliance on economic growth poses existential threats to environmental sustainability. A post-growth economy would instead prioritise environmental and societal prosperity over economic accumulation. But this transition demands a careful scrutiny of ‘growth dependencies’. One area in which this reliance on growth is potentially profound – particularly in the light of aging populations – is pension systems. In this paper, we therefore begin to address...

June 20, 2025
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11Jun

UK’s DB schemes remain in ‘robust shape’, PPF 7800 shows

The Pension Protection Fund's (PPF) 7800 Index for May painted a broadly positive picture of defined benefit (DB) schemes, as the aggregate surplus of the 4,969 schemes in the PPF 7800 Index increased by £18.6bn, rising from £202.5bn to £221.1bn. The index showed a 2.8 percentage point increase in the funding ratio, reaching 125.6 per cent, while just over seven in 10 (71.8 per cent) of all schemes were in surplus, or 3,569 in total. Commenting on the report, PPF chief...

June 11, 2025
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May 2025
09May

The Purple Book 2024. DB pensions universe risk profile

By Pension Protection Fund The Purple Book, also known as the Pensions Universe Risk Profile, highlights trends in DB scheme funding, demographics and asset allocation. It provides us with an in-depth understanding of the risks we face from the universe of schemes we protect. The 19th edition of the Purple Book shows the strong net funding position of the universe of DB pension schemes has remained largely stable over the past year. For this year’s Purple Book, we’ve used an enhanced roll-forward...

May 9, 2025
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March 2025
25Mar

UK. DB transfer activity falls to record low

Defined benefit transfer activity fell to a record low in February, data from XPS has found. XPS Group’s Transfer Activity Index fell to the lowest observed rate since the Index was established in 2018. In February 2025, there was an annualised rate of 13 members in every 1,000 transferring their benefits to alternative arrangements. This was the third consecutive month the index had fallen, suggesting that members are becoming increasingly cautious when making decisions about their retirement arrangements. Helen Cavanagh, senior consultant at...

March 25, 2025
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14Mar

Pension Funding Index February 2025

By Zorast Wadia The funded status of the 100 largest U.S. corporate defined benefit pension plans increased by $12 billion during January, as measured by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI). The funding surplus improved to $71 billion as a result of liability decreases and investment returns that surpassed expectations. Pension liabilities fell during the month due to a small increase in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value those liabilities. As of January 31, the PFI...

March 14, 2025
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04Mar

UK. DB schemes reconsidering long-term strategies amid market changes

Defined benefit (DB) pension schemes may be reconsidering their endgame strategies in light of recent market movements, PwC has said, after its Low Reliance Index continued to show a record surplus position, rising to £180bn in February 2025. PwC’s Buyout Index also recorded a surplus position of £90bn, demonstrating that DB pensions schemes continue to have, on average, sufficient assets to buyout their pension promises. PwC head of investment strategy, Sam Seadon, noted that there has been "something of a roller...

March 4, 2025
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January 2025
17Jan

Pensionomics 2025: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures

By Dan Doonan & Iliana Boivie Pensionomics 2025: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures finds pension spending powered by U.S. private and public sector defined benefit pensions contributed significantly to the economy. In 2022, retiree spending of public and private sector pension benefits generated $1.5 trillion in total economic output, supporting 7.1 million jobs across the nation. In addition to its impact on employment and economic activity, pension spending bolstered public finances in 2022, adding $224.3 billion in...

January 17, 2025
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