October 2025
08Oct

Macroeconomic Conditions Continue to Drive Pension Risk Transfer

Amid ongoing market conditions and economic uncertainty, U.S. plan sponsors are moving decisively to reduce pension risk. According to the newly released MetLife’s 2025 Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) Poll, a record 94% of defined benefit (DB) pension plan sponsors with de-risking goals intend to fully divest their pension liabilities with 80% planning to do so within five years. The company’s latest research shows market volatility is driving plan sponsors to de-risk, which, coupled with economic trends and stronger plan funding, is...

October 8, 2025
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September 2025
23Sep

US. Pension Risk Transfer drops in first half

For the second consecutive quarter, activity in the pension risk transfer (PRT) market declined, resulting in sales of $11.5 billion through 2Q, a 56% decrease year-over-year, according to LIMRA’s U.S. Group Annuity Risk Transfer Survey. While the industry is off to a slower start compared to the last few years, which was widely anticipated by most industry insiders, Nationwide’s head of PRT, Paula Cole expects marketplace activity to pick up in the second half of the year. Despite this...

September 23, 2025
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04Sep

Pension risk transfer: The U.S. and the U.K. compared

Growth in the pension risk transfer (PRT) industry is accelerating, with new research forecasting insurance companies will secure more than $335 billion of liabilities across the U.K. and the U.S. markets over the next three years. But with many insurers now looking at opportunities in both countries, it is vital to recognize the differences between the U.K. and the U.S., particularly when it comes to deferred lives. PRT transactions — often described as bulk purchase annuity deals in the U.K. —...

September 4, 2025
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August 2025
11Aug

Rolls-Royce offloads UK pension fund in £4.3bn deal with PIC

Rolls-Royce has sealed a £4.3bn deal with insurance specialist Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) to offload its UK pension scheme as the engineering giant presses ahead with simplifying its balance sheet. The deal, which was announced on Sunday, covers the remaining pension obligations of 36,000 members — including 15,000 current pensioners and 21,000 deferred members — and marks the largest pension risk transfer in the UK this year. It comes as the Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of the FTSE 100 darling, moves to slim...

August 11, 2025
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July 2025
28Jul

UK. ‘More to be done’ to improve risk transfer process, SPP says

There is “more that could be done” in terms of efficiency and effectiveness in the risk transfer process, the Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) has stated, despite numerous developments in this area over recent years. The report, Less friction, better transfers: creating a more agile risk transfer process, noted that the UK bulk annuity market has continued to go from strength to strength, and targeting an insurance transaction remains an attractive option for many. Citing data from WTW, the SPP highlighted that the...

July 28, 2025
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16Jul

PRT Market Momentum Expected to Continue

Pension risk transfers will be among the fastest-growing product lines in the life insurance sector, J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. found in its June 27 “North America Equity Research” report. According to the firm, many U.S. private sector employers that froze and/or closed their defined benefit pension plans as a benefit for employees more than a decade ago still have legacy plans, totaling $3.2 trillion in assets. Many firms have shifted their DB liabilities to insurers through PRT transactions. The PRT market...

July 16, 2025
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09Jul

Demand for pension risk transfer deals increases around the world

Morningstar DBRS has taken note of the pension risk transfer (PRT) market globally in a new commentary report published July 7. In it, they discuss the skepticism some plan members in the United States have about the deals (and the resulting lawsuits) and the regulatory attention being paid to such deals in the United Kingdom. In Canada they note a jump in market volumes in 2024, saying they anticipate demand for such deals will remain steady. “With life expectancy trending higher...

July 9, 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
09Jun

Five trends to watch in the European pension risk transfer market

The strong momentum in the UK pension risk transfer (PRT) market is a well-known and well-developed trend. The last few years have been highly active in terms of both deal flow and new entrants as participants maintain a bullish position on the opportunity. As a provider of longevity reinsurance, we help insurers, as well as pension schemes, execute buy-ins and buyouts to manage the implications of changing life expectancies. This gives us an interesting perspective on what is taking place in the...

June 9, 2025
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06Jun

Milliman Pension Buyout Index May 2025

By Jake Pringle & Ryan Cook Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, decreased by 140 bps from 102.5% to 101.1% during April As the pension risk transfer market continues to grow, it has become increasingly important for plan sponsors to monitor the annuity buyout market when considering a plan termination or de-risking strategy. Figure 1 illustrates retiree buyout costs with two different metrics: The red line represents only the most competitive insurers' rates from each month,...

June 6, 2025
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