Author: Greg Winterton

Institutional investment consultant Cambridge Associates is acquiring SIGLO Capital Advisors, a Zurich-based alternative investment specialist.

Kunal Sood, Standard Life Managing Director of Defined Benefit Solutions at UK insurer Standard Life, expects that more than £40bn worth of bulk purchase annuity deals will be completed before the end of 2024, according to a press release issued by the firm.  “While the market has been a little quieter so far in 2024, a strong pipeline heading into the rest of the year should mean a strong finish. In light of strong funding levels and attractive insurance pricing, DB pension schemes are increasingly looking for ways to de-risk their liabilities and secure their members’ benefits, with BPA remaining…

Milliman’s latest Milliman Pension Buyout Index (MPBI) shows that during July, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process increased more than two percentage points, from 100.3% of a plan’s accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation) to 102.5% of those liabilities.   That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 102.5% of a plan’s ABO. During the same time period, the average annuity purchase cost across all insurers in our index also increased, from 103.3% to 104.9%. The competitive bidding process is estimated to save plan sponsors about 2.4% of PRT costs as…

The combined reserves of the largest 40 charities in England & Wales that sponsor defined benefit pensions schemes rose to £50bn in 2022, according to Hymans Roberson’s annual report on DB pension funding in the charitable sector.   The analysis also shows that there’s been a 20% rise in average funding level of the DB schemes since 2019 driven predominately by falling pension scheme liabilities. This is at a time when charity income is also rising, now exceeding pre-Covid levels.  The 2024 report assesses the charities’ DB pensions exposures by looking at reserve levels, income, and DB pension contributions. It shows…

The landscape of licensed life settlement providers is largely unchanged this year, according to new data published by the European Life Settlement Association (publisher of Life Risk News).  The organisation is out with an update to its Licensed Provider Matrix (LPM), which it originally published as part of a ‘fact sheet’ in December last year. The LPM lists the licensed life settlement providers active in the industry, and the states in which they are licensed to operate.  In 2024, there is a net reduction of the total number of licenses of seven, a statistically insignificant 0.85% contraction from the 707…

Summer tends to be quieter for many parts of the alternative investment industry as people take their foot off the gas a little bit to enjoy the nicer weather and head out on holiday. But this year, two categories within the broader longevity and mortality risk markets did not get the memo. The life settlement and insurance-linked securities markets saw four deals announced publicly in July – three M&A deals and one management buyout.  Whilst alternative asset classes such as private equity, real estate and private debt see four deals announced most days, for these industries, this was something of a busy month. In…

Activity in the smaller scheme corner of the UK’s pension risk transfer market has held up in the past 18 months, despite initial concerns of crowding out. Greg Winterton spoke to Adam Davis, Managing Director at K3 Advisory, to get his thoughts on the drivers of activity in this part of the country’s booming bulk purchase annuity space.  GW: Adam, first off, what is the main reason – or reasons – that activity in the smaller scheme space has held up well recently?  AD: It is important to remember that, in terms of large schemes, there are not that many…

The European Life Settlement Association (ELSA), the European industry group promoting and supporting the life settlement industry, has today published its latest Fact Sheet, The Life Settlement Licence Matrix. The Life Settlement Licence Matrix is designed to provide institutional, end investors with an overview of the current landscape of licensed life settlement providers; the number of them, where they are licensed to operate, and notable changes in the data from the previous year. The Fact Sheet features an updated edition of the Licensed Provider Matrix (LPM), ELSA’s proprietary tool that provides a snapshot of which providers are licensed to operate…

The Rawle Gammon & Baker Ltd Pension & Assurance Scheme (sponsored by FTI Property Ltd, a company in the commercial property sector) has completed a £23m full buy-in transaction with Just Group.  The transaction, which was finalised in June 2024, secures the benefits of 113 deferred members and 154 pensioners. The project was supported by consulting firm K3 Advisory’s strategic partner In-Vest & Retire which is the trustees’ investment advisor, and WPS Trustee governance services.  “We are very pleased to have secured the benefits for these scheme members and to have met the needs of the trustees and the schemes’…

British mutual Royal London published its interim 2024 results on 2nd August, which said that operating profit before tax increased by 13% to £144m (H1 2023: £127m), life and pensions new business sales were up 4% to £5,048m (H1 2023: £4,865m) and assets under management increased to £169bn (31st December 2023: £162bn).  But for those in the UK’s bulk purchase annuity market, something else was more interesting than the actual results.  “We continued to build our bulk annuity proposition in advance of our planned market entry later this year, focusing on leveraging our capabilities to deliver an attractive solution for…