The return of the jumbo deals

Total buy-in and buy-out business is expected to come in at around £40bn for 2019, compared to 2018’s £24bn. During the last year, the market has been significantly influenced by an unusual number of very large transactions, with five transactions over £3bn being completed. BMS Insights this quarter highlights the appetite of different insurers at different transaction sizes.

Quickly changing market requires trustees to be well informed and prepared

Whilst volumes will fluctuate year on year, we expect the demand from pension schemes will continue at a similar scale to that seen over the last couple of years. With high demand for business, insurers are being more selective over how they apply their resources and which transactions they compete for. In general, pension schemes may require more patience, a flexible transaction timescale and an agile broking process to work around fluctuations in insurer appetites and available resources. This again reinforces the advantages of having engaged and aligned stakeholders and clear objectives before approaching insurers.

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See the bigger picture

Download our fourth annual risk transfer report, where we track the recent key changes in the market, with a particular focus on bulk annuities, and look at what these could mean for your defined benefit (DB) pensions scheme.

Access the full report here