• Nick Ford appointed as Head of Transactions (Life & Financial Services)
• Dan Diggins appointed as Head of Regulated Roles (Life & Financial Services)

Hymans Robertson, the leading pensions and financial services consultancy, has made two senior appointments within its award-winning Life & Financial Services practice. Nick Ford is appointed to the role of Head of Transactions, and will lead the firm’s activities in M&A, capital optimisation/raising, integration and structuring opportunities for insurers. Dan Diggins has been appointed as Head of Regulated Roles, and will lead the firm’s activities in this area, including Chief Actuary, With-Profits Actuary, Independent Expert and Skilled Person engagements. Both will also be heavily involved in other risk and capital initiatives.

Nick joins from KPMG, where he was the Solvency II Pillar 1 Lead and worked across advisory, audit and transactions. He has significant experience in a large number of buy-side and sell-side due diligence projects as well as leading performing Line 1 and Line 2 roles relating to Solvency II Internal Models, Matching Adjustment, Volatility Adjustment and Transitionals. Nick is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, a member of its Life Board, and holds a Chief Actuary (Life) practising certificate.

Dan’s most recent role was Head of Actuarial Strategy at Equitable Life, where he led the technical aspects of the Scheme of Arrangement and Part VII transfer to Utmost Life. As well as working closely with the lawyers, Dan worked closely with the Independent Experts and the regulators to help conceive, develop and deliver this industry first. Prior to that Dan spent over a decade at EY where he worked on a range of interesting projects delivering innovative insurance solutions for his clients. Dan was the Reviewing Actuary for Phoenix at YE15. Dan is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and holds practising certificates for Chief Actuary (Life) and With-Profits Actuary roles.

Stephen Makin, Partner at Hymans Robertson comments:

“I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome Nick and Dan to our growing team. Both are established experts, highly regarded in their fields, with proven ability in supporting clients in achieving their strategic objectives. They join during a fantastic period of growth for the team and will provide invaluable support to our clients as we continue to build on our success.”

Nick Ford, Head of Transactions at Hymans Robertson, adds:

“The Life & Financial Services practice at Hymans Robertson is at such an exciting stage in its growth and I’m delighted to join. Despite the large number of transactions over the past few years, there continues to be significant M&A activity both from the consolidation vehicles and the private equity houses. The capital markets continue to seek access to the decorrelated returns that life insurance can generate. Therefore, the insurance market has an increasing focus on the ability to generate capital and cash to return to shareholders whilst providing security to its policyholders. I’m looking forward to assisting Hymans Robertson’s clients with their transaction, integration and de-risking activities to ensure they are in the best position to generate returns whilst protecting their policyholders.”

Dan Diggins, Head of Regulated Roles at Hymans Robertson, adds:

“It’s fantastic to join Hymans Robertson as it continues to grow from strength to strength. I’m joining a great team and I was impressed with all of the people I met during the recruitment process.  This role offers the opportunity to do some fantastically exciting work with our clients and to complement, showcase and leverage the talents of our amazing team. The demand for actuarial services has never been higher and I look forward to helping our clients deliver their strategic aims.”