United Kingdom

New Aon paper guides pension schemes to a successful buyout

LONDON, 23 March 2021Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, has released ‘Getting to buyout – quicker, cheaper and with less risk’, a new paper which outlines how UK pension schemes can reach the right state for a successful insurance-based buyout.

Aon’s ‘Global Pension Risk Survey’ in 2019 showed that many pension schemes are now less than 10 years away from buyout and securing their members’ benefits with an insurer.

Lucy Barron, partner at Aon, said:
“Many UK pension schemes have made great progress on their journey - despite market volatility in 2020 - and are already close to securing buyout. However, the opportunities and risks are different in the final leg, so it is important that a scheme’s approach evolves to reflect this.

“Of course, there is much for trustees to do and all schemes will prepare for buyout in different ways, depending on their size, the issues they face and the amount of resource they have at their disposal. For example, for some schemes, delegating investment decisions to a fiduciary manager will allow the trustees to focus their time on getting the scheme ‘buyout ready’ while knowing they are achieving the returns needed.”

Lucy Barron continued:
“Being well prepared and agile is crucial for navigating that difficult final stage. Step-changes in insurer pricing, assets failing to track and exceeding insurer pricing, or other risks such as increasing longevity or market volatility, can all blow pension schemes off course. But with careful planning and a holistic approach, schemes can navigate the path to securing members’ benefits quicker, cheaper and with reduced risk.”

Getting to buyout – quicker, cheaper and with less risk” is available at: https://www.aon.com/unitedkingdom/retirement-investment/fiduciary-management/default.jsp

 

Notes to editors

About Aon

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.

Follow Aon on Twitter and LinkedIn

Stay up to date by visiting the Aon Newsroom and hear from Aon’s expert advisers in The One Brief.

Sign up for News Alerts here

Media Contacts

Colin Mayes
Aon
Phone: +44 (0)7801 748138
Email: [email protected]

OR

James Hartwell
Kekst CNC
Phone: +44 (0)7870 487532
Email: [email protected]