WTW targets sub-£1bn pension schemes with streamlined longevity swaps

WTW today launched a streamlined longevity swap solution, Longevity Stream, aimed at UK pension schemes with less than £1bn of liabilities. The launch brings a structure more commonly used in larger transactions into the smaller-scheme segment of the market.

WTW has named the solution Longevity Stream and positioned it for schemes below the £1bn threshold, a part of the market where execution costs and complexity can make bespoke longevity hedging harder to access. Search-derived commentary from WTW on the broader market indicated that it had led two deals covering less than £500m of liabilities in 2024, pointing to a focus on smaller transactions rather than large buy-in-style trades.

Longevity swaps are generally written either on an indemnity basis, where payments track a scheme’s actual mortality experience, or on an index basis, where payments reference an agreed mortality index. Search-derived regulatory and actuarial material indicates that both structures typically involve fixed payments from the pension plan and floating payments back from the counterparty, with indemnity formats more often used for larger schemes and index structures often shorter in term and more standardised.

That matters because a streamlined format for sub-£1bn schemes suggests an attempt to reduce the amount of deal-specific structuring normally associated with indemnity transactions. WTW’s previous work in the market also points to the kind of counterparty structure it has used before. In an earlier WTW-led longevity swap, MetLife supplied reinsurance capacity and Zurich acted as the intermediary insurer, illustrating a model in which capital provision and insurance intermediation sit with separate counterparties.

Artemis. Bm published its report on the launch on 28 July 2026 under the byline of Jack Willard.

Sources: news.google.com · wtwco.com