Pension Risk Transfer

Prudential Retirement’s International Reinsurance business has closed its first reinsurance transaction involving an unnamed U.K. pension scheme using an independent U.K.-regulated insurer, Zurich Assurance Ltd., as intermediary.

Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), has successfully closed $1.7 billion in new longevity reinsurance transactions during the first half of the year, attributing success to pivoting quickly to virtual closings during the COVID-19 global pandemic and a vibrant smaller end of the U.K. pension buy-in and buy-out market.

NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 9, 2019 – UA Local 22 Plumbers and Steamfitters Annuity Fund, and Sendik’s Food Market, a family-owned Milwaukee grocery chain, chose Prudential Retirement as record keeper for their defined contribution retirement plans.

NEWARK, N.J., August 29, 2019 - Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) today announced that Andrew Sullivan will succeed Stephen Pelletier as executive vice president and head of U.S. Businesses, reporting to Chairman and CEO Charles Lowrey, effective December 1. Pelletier will retire following an extraordinary 27-year career with the company, in which he led Group Insurance and Prudential Annuities, and founded Prudential’s international asset management businesses, now PGIM Global Partners.

NEWARK, N.J., January 29, 2019 - Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) has transferred approximately $1.8 billion of its pension obligations by purchasing a group annuity contract from The Prudential Insurance Company of America, a subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU). Approximately 32,000 of Lockheed Martin’s retirees will receive their monthly pension benefit payments from Prudential as part of this buy-out agreement.

NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 09, 2017 - Prudential Retirement, a unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU), and Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), have entered into their fifth longevity reinsurance transaction since 2015. In the agreement, The Prudential Insurance Company of America assumes the longevity risk for $1.2 billion (about £900 million) in pension liabilities, covering approximately 4,000 pensioners across four pension schemes.

NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 02, 2017 - International Paper (NYSE:IP) will settle approximately $1.3 billion of its pension obligations by purchasing a group annuity contract from The Prudential Insurance Company of America (NYSE: PRU), a leader in retirement benefits. The agreement transfers to Prudential the responsibility for paying pension benefits to roughly 45,000 of International Paper’s retirees and their beneficiaries.

The Trustee of the MMC UK Pension Fund (the “Fund”) has announced the largest longevity risk transfer for a UK pension fund since 2014. The transaction, which reinsures the longevity risk of £3.4 billion ($4.3 billion) in pension liabilities, will provide long-term protection and income to the Fund in the event that the covered participants live longer than expected. It also lowers the risk that Marsh & McLennan Companies will face unexpected pension contributions due to an increase in pensioner life expectancy.

NEWARK, N.J., Aug. 15, 2017 - The increasing costs and volatility of managing defined benefit pension plans have long been at the center of the motivations for transferring a company’s pension risk to an insurer. But which costs and what kinds of volatility are finance chiefs most concerned about? A new survey involving 80 senior finance executives at companies with traditional pensions sheds light on the motivations behind pension risk transfer decisions in the executive suite. 

NEWARK, N.J., June 26, 2017 - The Hartford has agreed to settle $1.6 billion of its pension obligations by purchasing a group annuity contract from The Prudential Insurance Company of America, the company announced today. The agreement transfers responsibility for paying the pension benefits of approximately 16,000 of The Hartford’s retirees and former U.S. employees, as well as their beneficiaries. The transaction represents approximately 29 percent of The Hartford’s pension obligations.