Record £80bn in pension bulk annuity/longevity swap transactions predicted for 2024

Written by Adam Cadle

22/01/2024

The UK DB pensions market is likely to see £80bn in pension de-risking transactions take place in 2024, as the settlement market continues to hot up following significant improvements in pension scheme funding seen in 2023, WTW has said.

According to WTW’s annual pensions de-risking report, insurers are primed to buy out £60bn in bulk annuity transactions and £20bn in longevity swaps this year, making 2024 the biggest year on record for pensions de-risking.

Last year saw historically high numbers of pension schemes securing their liabilities through an insurance-led buyout, with over £50bn written in bulk annuity transactions alone.

Jenny Neale, director in WTW’s pensions transactions team, said: “It’s clear that funding improvements have turbo-charged the pensions de-risking market and, from a capacity perspective, we have already seen that the insurance market is capable of scaling up to meet demand.

“The attractiveness of these opportunities is also enticing new insurers to enter the market adding additional capacity, which we believe will be sufficient to meet requirements in the year to come.”

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