An analysis of insurer results shows that while buy-in and buyout volumes in 2024 were the second highest on record at £47.8bn (€56bn), the number of transactions reached a record level last year with 298 transactions completed.
This is an increase of over 30% on last year’s number (2023: 227), with the biggest growth experienced in the second half of the year where over 160 transactions were completed, and £32.5bn of business was written, according to a report by Aon.
Another report by LCP found the biggest growth segment was ‘micro’ sub-£10m schemes, which saw a nearly 60% year-on-year increase in transaction numbers, making up over 30% of 2024 transactions.
More widely, smaller schemes of less than £100m made up nearly 80% of all transactions in 2024 (2023: c70%). Nine out of 10 insurers completed transactions in this segment, with Just Group (120 transactions) and Aviva (52 transactions) completing the most under £100m.
This success can be partly attributed to increased use of insurer streamlined processes, which complement existing adviser-led streamlined services.
Rothesay wrote the largest volumes in 2024 at £10.3bn (22% market share), driven by its deals with NatWest, followed by Legal & General on £8.4bn (18% market share) and Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) on £8.1bn (17% market share). Aviva, Just and Standard Life also each wrote over £5bn of buy-ins/outs in 2024 (11%+ market shares).
The year also saw a record number of large transactions with 14 buy-ins/outs over £1bn in 2024, beating the previous record of 12 set in 2023.
This included a £11bn Natwest transaction with Rothesay, a £1.8bn buy-in deal between the G2S pension and Just, a £1.5bn transaction between Compass Group and Standard Life, and a £1.7bn deal between the National Grid Electricity Group of the Electricity Supply pension scheme and Aviva.
New entrants
Utmost entered the UK bulk annuity market in 2024 and went on to complete two deals. This followed the entry of Royal London (which wrote its first external deals in 2024) and the re-entry of M&G in 2023 to the market.
At the end of April, Royal London confirmed it has reached £1bn of liabilities insured, having completed its ninth transaction in March 2025. This, it said, was as a result of £600m of premium across two transactions with its internal pension schemes in November 2023 and January 2024, and £400m of premium from transactions with external pension schemes.
M&G has, meanwhile, completed £90m in BPA transactions since re-entering the market.
Scottish Widows withdrew from the market in March 2024, selling its bulk annuity portfolio to Rothesay. However, in March 2025, Blumont, the UK subsidiary of Canadian asset and insurance group Brookfield, received Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) approval to write UK bulk annuities and is expected to write its first transaction in the coming months.
Charlie Finch, partner at LCP, said: “The pension risk transfer market is firing on all cylinders, with record levels of competition and choice for schemes of all shapes and sizes. This can be seen by schemes such as NatWest, which has completed over £10bn of buy-ins in the last 18 months, right down to the 60% year-on-year growth in transactions by ‘micro’ sub-£10m schemes.
“Transfers to Clara-Pensions last year have opened up superfunds as a viable option for a wider range of schemes. And in coming months, the government is due to publish further details on the shake-up of the rules around surplus release, which should increase flexibility for schemes to run on.”
Imogen Cothay, partner at LCP, added that there is a continued focus from insurers with high levels of competition for transactions of all sizes.
She said: “It is particularly pleasing to see insurers responding to the rapid growth in demand for smaller schemes transactions, and new entrant insurers increasing competition for this market segment, resulting in favourable pricing for well-run processes.
“We’re also seeing continued innovation driving improvements in other aspects of insurers’ offerings, as pension schemes increasingly look to non-price factors such as the member experience to drive their insurer selection decisions. Whilst larger schemes are leading the way, key innovations developed on the £1bn+ deals we led last year are now being made available to smaller schemes,” Cothay noted.
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