Press Releases

The With-Profits Market report 2022, has been launched today, by Hymans Robertson. The annual report highlights that Insurers in the with-profits industry are likely to face another challenging year. For many firms this will require a heavy focus on strategic thinking which will be needed, if they are to continue to protect and provide good outcomes for policyholders in the future.  

Commenting on the closed DWP Consultation 'Value for Money: A framework on metrics, standards, and disclosures', Callum Stewart, Head of DC Investment, Hymans Robertson, says:

"Overall, we welcome the DWP’s recommendations and proactive approach to engaging stakeholders as part of this process so far. The overall approach to assessing value requires reform, and we are particularly pleased to see ‘outcomes’ mentioned more than 60 times in this consultation. We wholeheartedly agree that member outcomes should be a primary consideration in the assessment of value, and reflects the approach we adopt through advice and provider assessments...

Commenting on The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) second consultation on the Defined Benefit Funding Code of Practice (the Code), Laura McLaren, Partner, Hymans Robertson says:

“We broadly agree with the principles outlined in the Code and within the Fast Track regulatory approach. TPR has signalled its direction of travel for some time, and its approach generally seems to strike a good balance between setting out the principles and expectations of the new regime, with providing enough flexibility for schemes to determine long-term strategies which suit their own circumstances. We welcome this flexibility, but we have concerns about several potential inconsistencies with the DWP’s draft regulations. We strongly believe that the final DWP regulations should be less prescriptive to ensure that following the principles in the Code will mean complying with the law...

Risk transfer specialist, Verity Hastie, has joined Hymans Robertson, the leading pensions and financial services consultancy, as a Risk Transfer Specialist. Verity is the fifth experienced hire to join Hymans Robertson’s risk transfer team in the last five months. Between them, Lara Desay, Louise Lane, Paula Haughton, Harry Allen and Verity Hastie have 70 years’ of specialist experience.

Commenting on today’s 0.25% interest rate rise from the Bank of England, Chris Arcari, Head of Capital Markets, Hymans Robertson says:

“Yesterday’s upside inflation surprise, alongside an economy that has shown surprising resilience recently, will have emboldened the Bank of England to raise rates 0.25% p.a. today, to 4.25% p.a.  February’s inflation figures revealed headline inflation rose to 10.4% year-on-year while core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose to 6.2% year-on-year. Market expectations of interest rates have fallen sharply recently on the back of concerns around the banking sector on both sides of the Atlantic, but markets were still pricing a more than even chance of a 0.25% p.a. rise...

Total pension scheme buy-in and buy-out volumes reached £27.9 billion in 2022 according to latest research from Hymans Robertson. Demand for transactions continued to gather pace during 2022 with market volatility resulting in a busy second half of the year and the total number of 2022 transactions was at the highest level for nearly 10 years. Had interest rates been comparable to prior years, then 2022 would have been "close to a record year" for the market, potentially beating the £43.8bn record set in 2019.

Hymans Robertson announces that Jon Hatchett has been appointed to lead the firm from 1 April as he steps into the role of Senior Partner. He takes on the role of heading up the leading pensions and financial services consultancy from John Dickson who, with the rolling tenure of the senior partner role, will be resuming a predominant focus on strategic investment advice across the firm’s clients.

Hymans Robertson, the leading pensions and financial services consultancy, has announced the appointment of both Paula Haughton and Harry Allen to its expanding Risk Transfer team.  

Comments on expanding childcare and the implications for the gender pensions gap, and the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance (LTA).

DB pension scheme trustees should be careful to focus on the detail in insurance firms’ Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) reports, when selecting a firm for risk transfer, warns Hymans Robertson, as it launches its latest report: Spotlight: Insurer TCFD reporting and net zero targets.

Following today’s announcement about the delivery of the Pensions Dashboard, Paul Waters, Head of Digital Wealth, Hymans Robertson, says:

“The industry will welcome the additional time to deliver the pensions dashboards that the delay announced today offers. However, in reality it is pushing back even further the time for which consumers have the pension find and view service that is needed, as well as the resulting retirement guidance and support the industry can wrap around this...

2023 will see a paradigm shift in the pension scheme buy-in market with volumes expected to reach record highs for years to come, according to Hymans Robertson, as it issues its annual risk transfer report today. The leading pensions and financial services consultancy’s report shows a dramatic transformation in the market, with a tidal wave of demand leading to record buy-out volumes exceeding £50bn, with the potential to hit £70bn over the next few years.