How should employers engage with the buy-in process?

How should employers engage with the buy-in process?

23 May 2025

This edition of XPS Express considers recent developments in the bulk annuity market and how employers can prepare well in advance of a buy-in transaction to ensure the best possible outcomes for their business.

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Key Developments: At a glance

• 300 insurer transactions were completed in 2024, with levels expected to increase over the coming years.

• Increased competition amongst insurers has resulted in better pricing for schemes of all sizes, driven partly by new entrants to the market as well as recent market volatility, bringing schemes closer to full funding on a solvency basis.

• Getting a scheme ready for a buy-in transaction includes consideration of illiquid assets, resolving data and benefit uncertainties, understanding accounting impacts and any potential distribution of surplus. This can take time, so employer engagement is therefore critical to enable schemes to seize favourable market pricing at the right time.

• Increasingly, employers are setting up joint working groups for these projects and seeking their own advice to prepare for a transaction and monitor the process.

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