Legal & General adds two to pension risk transfer team

Legal & General has made two appointments into its Pension Risk Transfer business, the segment where the firm assists pension schemes to de-risk, including through longevity swaps and reinsurance arrangements.

UK headquartered insurance and pensions specialist Legal & General (L&G) has been involved in a number of longevity swaps and longevity reinsurance transactions in recent years, often working in tandem with the firm’s reinsurance arm Legal & General Re (L&G Re).

Chris DeMarco has been appointed Managing Director of L&G’s UK Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) business, while Costas Yiasoumi has been appointed as Head of Core Business for L&G’s PRT business.

DeMarco is an internal hire from Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), where he was Head of Institutional Client Management. He has experience across pensions and risk management, as well as leadership expertise. L&G said his skills will assist them to help “guide pension schemes through their de-risking journeys.” DeMarco was previously a partner at consultancy Aon Hewitt.

Yiasoumi was previously with Partnership Assurance, where he led the insurers bulk annuities business. He has also held senior roles at Swiss Re, JP Morgan and Mercer. L&G said his hire demonstrates the firm’s commitment to the growing pension risk transfer market.

Kerrigan Procter, Managing Director of Legal & General, commented on the hires; “I’m delighted to welcome Chris and Costas to the team at a time when trustees and sponsors of defined benefit schemes are increasingly focused on transferring their risk to insurers. After what’s been another strong year, I am confident that their expertise will result in many more market leading and innovative transactions being completed over the coming months and years.”

Read about many historical longevity swap and reinsurance transactions in our Longevity Risk Transfer Deal Directory.