2024 has remained consistently busy for the risk transfer market across schemes of all sizes – from a record-breaking number of sub-£100m transactions to the widely reported news that NatWest Group has secured around £11bn of its scheme’s liabilities.
2024 saw the addition of two new insurers (Utmost and Royal London) successfully completing their first external transactions, with a third (Blumont, owned by Brookfield) hoping to do so in early 2025, which will provide further capacity and competition to this thriving market. Clara has also completed two superfund transactions, including its first transaction with an ongoing covenant, and is developing additional solutions with the aim of opening up alternatives to the traditional buyout endgame to a wider range of schemes.
Our team takes pride in being central to this market, consistently delivering innovative solutions customised to meet each client's objectives. In 2024 we led 29 bulk annuity, superfund or longevity swap transactions for schemes of all sizes - ranging in size from less than £1 million to £5 billion! And we remain busy with a very strong pipeline of transactions moving into 2025.
This report provides an overview of the market over the past year and our predictions of what we expect to happen in 2025. In addition, our experts highlight some topical issues we expect to be important to schemes considering a transaction, including:
Note: unless otherwise indicated WTW were the lead trustee adviser on the project and provided the regulated advice.
Source: Insurance company data and public announcements to 10 January 2025, and deals led by WTW that completed over 2020 to 2024. The market share statistics have been calculated as a percentage of the amount of liabilities transferred based on the lead trustee adviser.
We hope you find this an interesting insight into the thriving market and would welcome the chance to discuss further with you how your scheme can maximise its opportunities to manage risks in the current environment.
01
Rhys Mellens looks back at another busy year in the risk transfer market.
02
In this article, Sadie Scaife sets out the case for why we think the market is well placed to meet this demand from pension schemes of all sizes.
03
Jenny Neale and Sarah Collison reflect on the importance of taking into account differences between insurers when making your selection decision and provide top tips for how to best work with your insurer.
04
In this article, Shelly Beard considers what pension schemes can learn from insurers’ investment strategies.
05
In this article, Matt Wiberg and Filipa Eastham share their views on current trends in the longevity swap market.
06
In this article, Remi Warren explores what’s driving the increasing importance of ESG when choosing an insurer for buy-in/buyout transactions.
07
In this article, Ryan McKenna provides a summary of developments over 2024 which have led to a potential broadening of the role of superfunds and other providers.
08
Tony Martinez shares his predictions on what we might expect from the de-risking market over the next year.
