LONDON, 4 August 2026 – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm, has launched Future DB a new, full-service solution designed to help well-funded UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes implement their endgames quickly and efficiently.
The UK results of Aon's Global Pensions Risk Survey 2025 found that 63 percent of schemes had either already reached their target funding level or will do so within the next five years. Aon has therefore increasingly focused on removing the barriers that trustees and sponsors face when putting their endgame in place – whether the target is a buyout, a flexible risk transfer strategy over time, or running on as a stable, well-governed scheme. Future DB is designed to take that further, responding both to schemes' current circumstances and future needs.
Ben Roe, senior partner and head of UK Retirement for Aon, said:
"It's clear that the changed funding position of UK schemes demands fresh thinking and new methods. With that in mind, we reviewed our core services for DB schemes and Future DB is the result. It is designed to give trustees and sponsors a wider range of options, with more certainty and smoother execution of their endgame approach.
"We have brought together and maximised the effectiveness of administration, governance, actuarial, investment and covenant advice within a single, streamlined framework, built around a comprehensive endgame-focused onboarding approach. Each scheme has one main point of contact - helping trustees and sponsors reduce management time and costs.
"Future DB enables schemes to be 'endgame-ready' from the outset, preparing scheme data, benefits, funding and investment strategy so they can be run on more effectively or to go into a transaction more smoothly."
Maria Johannessen, senior partner and UK head of Investment for Aon, said:
"As pension schemes close in on their desired destination, the ability to automatically align investment strategy with endgame scenarios is a powerful tool for getting the best possible outcomes for schemes and their members.
"Harnessing Aon's award-winning investment platform and expertise alongside scheme funding sharpens the focus on achieving client objectives and releases significant cost synergies for schemes."
Improved funding means schemes have more options. For example, Aon's 2026 UK DB Plan Endgame Survey found that 24 percent of schemes intended to run on beyond settlement readiness. Future DB is designed to give these schemes – irrespective of size - access to Aon's market-leading specialist expertise in run-on as well as in risk transfer.
Ben Roe continued:
"Aon has always had industry-leading specialist teams, but this structure enables them to work together even more efficiently. For example, we have invested substantially in our administration service, enabling it to address the questions on capacity and capability that face the industry overall. Data cleansing and GMP equalisation have been major industry challenges, but our team of around 175 specialists is removing the obstacles for schemes that might otherwise delay a risk transfer transaction.
"Where schemes choose to run on, Future DB leverages Aon's Active Solution To Run On (ASTRO) framework and Pension Endgame Analyzer. This enables low-volatility, buyout-aware strategies to be implemented that aim to generate surplus while protecting members and reflecting the sponsoring employer's covenant strength. Using our Future DB approach allows us to implement this efficiently and effectively – and even for smaller schemes that might not have considered run-on as viable in the past.
"Alternatively, for schemes that are targeting buyout, our risk settlement specialists, who have advised on over 30 percent of bulk annuity transactions by volume in the UK since 2019, can use our Pathway framework to provide a streamlined route through the bulk annuity market and post-transaction windup. And at a time when legislative and regulatory change presents a considerable challenge, Future DB is also underpinned by our 200-strong governance team.
"Overall, our aim is to bring a wider range of options and more certainty over secure endgame solutions to the UK's pension schemes – and we are confident that they and their members will see the value of this refreshed approach."
For more information about Aon's Retirement team, visit here.
ENDS
About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE:AON) exists to shape decisions for the better — to protect and enrich the lives of people around the world. Through actionable analytic insight, globally integrated Risk Capital and Human Capital expertise, and locally relevant solutions, our colleagues provide clients in over 120 countries with the clarity and confidence to make better risk and people decisions that protect and grow their businesses.
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