Reinsurance News’ Post

M&G plc has launched its Value Share Bulk Purchase Annuity (“BPA”) proposition by completing a c.£500m transaction with a private Corporate Sponsor and its UK Pension Scheme, insuring c.3,200 pensioner and deferred members. #Markets

A new paper from Hymans Robertson, a pensions and financial services consultancy, advises trustees of defined benefit pension schemes to look beyond price when selecting an insurer for buy-in or buy-out transactions.

In our latest article, Mark van den Berghen and I explore if UK DB pension schemes are facing a bottleneck in their journey to secure bulk purchase annuities. With timelines accelerating, many schemes are nearing the finish line. But with new hurdles ahead, how will the market develop over time for those waiting to transact? https://lnkd.in/dKM7eaka

📑 The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) recently issued an opinion on the supervision of captive (re)insurance undertakings (“captives”) to guide National Competent Authorities (“NCAs”) with the supervision of these undertakings. The guidance specifically relates to intra-group transactions and governance arrangements. Find out more 👉 https://lnkd.in/g7vZ_Vu6 Nuala Crimmins #Insurance

MetLife has effectively provided reinsurance capacity, while Zurich Insurance has acted as intermediary insurer, for a UK £340 million pension longevity swap for the Airways Pension Scheme.

LTAFs remain a controversial topic for pension funds and insurers - The advent of Long-Term Asset Funds (#LTAFs) remained an issue of contention among the participants - and the audience - in the opening panel discussion at the Private Markets Investor | Europe 2024 event in London last week, with the panellists being almost entirely in their favour. However, there was more scepticism from the audience. The discussion, which was titled “The advent of pension innovations – CDCs, LTAFs, and pension consolidators – and insurance solvency reforms: What is the opportunity and outlook for greater investment in illiquid assets, and what are the operational hurdles?”, focused on prospects for reform and new ideas coming down the pipeline. Panellists were Mike Chappell, Co-Head of Private Markets at Phoenix Group, STEPHEN TILEY, Pension Funds Manager and Trustee Director at WHSmith, Bob T. of Credit Risk at Hymans Robertson, and James Monk, Investment Director at Fidelity International, and they conferred over the issue in a lively discussion. Read more at the link below. #investmentoperations #privatemarkets #pensionconsolidation #illiquidassets #insurance #pensionfunds

MetLife, a global provider of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programmes, has reported in its 2024 Pension Risk Transfer Poll that 93% of companies with de-risking objectives plan to fully divest their defined benefit (DB) pension plan liabilities, up from 89% in the 2023 survey.

The value factors driving insurer appetite for pension risk transfer are also driving increased interest by predominantly larger pension schemes to run their schemes on, thereby productively creating surpluses whilst remaining invested for the longer term. There is also a strong appetite for pension risk transfer activity – both on the side of the insurers as well as from pension scheme sponsors. For sponsors, this is to use the recent improvements in funding levels to affordably cut ties to their pension schemes, which have long been regarded as a risk to their balance sheets and cashflow. For insurers, this demonstrates the strong value there is in running pension schemes on within a consolidated platform. The number of insurers active in the market has already increased this year, and alongside the news that Brookfield has applied to set up an insurance company in the UK, we at Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management expect additional new entrants over the course of this year and next. This will increase the capacity to undertake new transactions, as well as increase competition for deals. However, the underlying capacity constraints remain; new insurers are still competing for the same talent who can appropriately price and transact in this market. The length of time it has taken for Brookfield to enter the market also highlights an issue beyond resource: requisite FCA approval is both expensive to gain and time consuming which will create an additional barrier to entry, thereby limiting the number of new entrants. #pensionfunds #fiduciarymanagement #risktransfer

Stay informed and stay ahead with Broadstone's latest Employer Briefing! 📣 Stuart Bradbury and David Pye cover off the latest trends and actionable insights on DB schemes, end-game strategies and pension policy movements. Catch the link to the full briefing note below👇 #BusinessInsights #EmployerBriefing #DBTrends #RegulatoryUpdates #Broadstone