pension scheme

UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes are showing interest in hedge fund investments, as they seek to navigate market volatility and broader macro-economic uncertainty, according to broker Aon, insight which might suggest a growing appetite for insurance-linked securities (ILS) allocations again.

The Comet Pension Scheme, a closed defined benefit pension fund, is set to allocate more capital to insurance-linked securities (ILS) as part of a new discretionary alternatives mandate that includes some ILS, adding to an allocation it already had with ILS manager Leadenhall Capital Partners.

Longevity is the biggest risk facing corporate pension schemes in the UK and Germany and more likely to cause deficits than low-interest rates, according to Fitch Ratings, which underscores the expected increase in demand for longevity risk transfer and reinsurance.

The BBC, or British Broadcasting Corporation, pension fund made a £76m allocation to insurance-linked securities and catastrophe bonds through an investment mandate given to Nephila Capital las year (read our article on the original allocation of funds here). While the investment is small, at less than 1% of the BBC pension funds total assets of […]

Since the longevity risk transfer and pensioner longevity de-risking market began in earnest in 2006 over £40 billion of pensioner liabilities have been transferred using instruments such as longevity swaps, buy-ins and buy-outs according to an update from Hymans Robertson. The total volume of risk transfer deals is expected to surpass £50 billion by the […]

The UK pension risk transfer market had a record year in 2011, with the combined total volume of longevity swaps, pension buy-ins and buy-outs breaking the £10 billion barrier for the first time in a single calendar year. This reflects the growing awareness from pension scheme trustees that longevity risk is a real issue that […]

Mercer have assisted in the completion of the latest pension scheme buyout transaction which saw the benefits of 3,500 pension plan members have their assets of around £100m transferred to Standard Life. The majority of the pension scheme belonging to British publisher and media company EMAP was transferred to Standard Life while the remainder were […]

This morning we attended Standard & Poor’s London ILS event, the ‘5th Annual European Insurance-Linked Securities Conference’. This well attended, informative event featured a number of interesting panel discussions including one involving three well known ILS investment managers discussing the increasing trend for pension funds investing in ILS and catastrophe bonds.

Punter Southall, a UK based actuarial and investment consultant to many large UK pension schemes, has published a press release commenting on the recent ITV longevity swap transaction warning pension schemes of the sometimes limited nature of the risk transfer a longevity swap provides.

Pension Corporation continues to be one of the most active participants in the pension risk transfer and de-risking marketplace as they complete regular transactions with counterparties. Their latest transaction see’s them enter into a pension buyout agreement with Nova Chemicals UK Pension Plan (press release available here).