Author: Aaron Woolner
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s leading cause of death, accounting for nearly 18 million lives annually, or 33% of the total, well ahead of cancers which are the next highest cause of mortality (17%), according to Our World in Data. The data are also clear that CVD impacts men and women in different ways, with an overall lower prevalence of coronary disease among women, who typically develop heart problems at older ages – the average age for a first heart attack in men is 65, compared with 72 for women, according to Harvard Medical School. The picture was more…
The US Department of Labor (DOL) has concluded its review of the regulatory framework for the pension risk transfer (PRT) market and decided not to take any action at the moment, but it has left the door open for future rule changes. At the end of June, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued a report to Congress on the thirty year old Interpretive Bulletin 95-1 (IB 95-1) in which it said it was not ‘prepared at this time to propose amendments’. The EBSA report explicitly addressed concerns from some market participants that the greater use of illiquid investments,…
The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will introduce stress testing for insurers’ exposure to funded reinsurance (funded re) transactions for the first time in 2025. The UK regulator first signaled its concerns over the use of this type of reinsurance treaty in June 2023 when it warned this structure could leave carriers exposed in stressed markets. Speaking at an industry conference in April, Lisa Leaman, Head of Insurance Supervision at the PRA, said that the 2025 Life Insurance Stress Test (LIST), due to be published in June, would outline the proposed funded re stress tests. Funded re is the transfer of…
The UK’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries includes data from as far back as 1825 when calculating its life expectancy tables. Fundamental to those estimations is the importance of the correlation between income and life expectancy. The effects of this relationship are still apparent today. Research by the McKinsey Global Institute shows that the GDP per capita in the Polish IT hub Wroclaw increased from $23,000 in 2000 to $55,000 two decades later. Wroclaw’s citizens saw their average life expectancy increase by 4.9 years in tandem with the influx of high paying jobs from tech giants such as Alphabet and…
The trustees of RiverStone Management Pension and Life Assurance Plan, which is sponsored by Brit Insurance, have completed a £95m (S117M) full buy-in with Standard Life. According to the press release announcing the deal, this is the second buy-in conducted by a pension scheme backed by Brit Insurance following a similar size deal with the Brit Group Services Limited Defined Benefits Pension Scheme in 2022. The latest deal covers all benefits of the scheme’s 388 members. According to the release, the trustees were able to negotiate an enhanced level of inflation protection for members as a result of the competitive nature…
UK Regulators analyse Funded Reinsurance risks in Pension Risk Transfers; PRA raises portfolio recapture concerns.
Last orders have been called for the UK pension fund of diamond specialist De Beers with a £870m ($1.1bn) full buy-in deal that will see all current pensioners and deferred members transferred to Pensions Insurance Corporation (PIC). In a 2 April news release, PIC said that 1464 current pensioners and 473 deferred members of the scheme, which is sponsored by De Beers UK, would transfer across from the pension fund. Hymans Robertson and Barnett Waddingham provided the De Beers trustees with actuarial advice on the transaction. PIC was given legal advice by CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang (CCMNO) and the De…
US tech firm Unisys has signed a $200m bulk purchase annuity (BPA) deal with F&G Annuities & Life, the second transaction between the two parties in the last 12 months, following on from the $250m BPA deal with F&G announced last November The deal was signed on 28th March, transferring 3,800 retirees and beneficiaries across to F&G. Unisys said the deal will result in a first quarter one-time, non-cash, pre-tax settlement charge of approximately $129m. This new deal is the latest in a series of pension de-risking moves by the Pennsylvania-headquartered firm. In 2021, Unisys agreed a $280m BPA deal…
The Ockham Pension Scheme has completed a £110m ($138m) buy-in with retirement specialists Just Group. The Ockham Pension Scheme is sponsored by insurer LV=, and the deal secures benefits for about 700 members. This is the third buy-in deal which has been sponsored by LV=, following the £40m full buy-in with Rothesay of the Teachers Assurance Group Pension Scheme in 2019, and the conversion of the LV= Employee Pension Scheme’s longevity swap into a £800m buy-in with Standard Life in 2020. LCP was appointed as de-risking adviser to the trustee, with Redington providing investment advice on the asset transfer. A&O…
The pension fund of UK retailer Next has agreed a £510m ($643m) full scheme buy-in with bulk purchase annuity (BPA) specialist Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC). This is the second deal between the two parties and follows a £100m buy-in in 2018. The completion of this new transaction means that a total of 3,600 pensioners and deferred members have now been transferred to PIC. The Next scheme trustee was advised on all aspects of the buy-in by LCP. Legal advice was provided to the trustee by Herbert Smith Freehills. Hymans Robertson and Shoosmiths advised the scheme sponsor Next plc and CMS…