According to Hymans Robertson’s 2026 Risk Transfer Report, the pipeline of acquisitions expected to be completed in the coming months is very strong, with 2026 expected to be a record year for the market and likely to exceed £50 billion for the first time.
The report notes that insurance companies are well-positioned to meet this demand, which is good news for pension schemes.
Haymans Robertson said the market strength would continue as insurers’ interest in pension schemes of all sizes continued to grow. It is expected that at least 8 out of 10 insurers will regularly quote on planned transactions of less than £100 million.
Meanwhile, Hymans Robertson said he “wouldn’t be surprised if buy-in levels break multi-billion pound records in 2026.”
The report also shows that pension scheme risk transfer has reached a historic milestone, following a record number of call and longevity swaps in 2025, with more than £500bn of transactions completed in less than 20 years.
In 2025, the number of risk transfer transactions was 380, a 25% increase from 2024 (a record year).
Nearly 140 purchases of less than £100 million were completed during the year, the second highest number on record. Hymans-Robertson noted that smaller scheme deals are not only increasing in number but are also making up a growing share of the overall market.
Total buying currently exceeds £370 billion, while longevity swaps amount to around £170 billion. More than half of this activity occurred within the past five years, highlighting the rapid growth of the risk transfer market since its launch in 2007.
Hymans Robertson predicts that £1 trillion of pension scheme liabilities will be insured by 2035.
James Mullins, partner and risk transfer specialist at Hymans Robertson, said: “Pension scheme risk transfer has reached a historic milestone, with more than 5,000 transactions completed in less than 20 years. million of transactions, half of which have been completed in the past five years. This is a clear indication of the attractiveness and resilience of the market, and the confidence that pension scheme trustees and sponsoring employers have in this end game. We are seeing record levels of activity and momentum across pension schemes of all sizes.” This number will only continue to grow as more capital and investment supply enters the UK market.
“DB pension schemes now have more choice than ever. With Clara continuing to prove its worth as a reliable and trustworthy solution and the addition of TPT’s new super fund, the super fund market is now well-proven. We are also seeing innovation in bespoke alternatives emerging, such as Stagecoach and Aberdeen arrangements, which shows how creative and flexible end planning has become.
“The UK buy market is attracting global attention given recent and expected future transaction volumes. With PIC being acquired by Athora (owned by Apollo) and Just being acquired by Brookfield Acquisitions, we are seeing large international asset managers pouring money into the UK buy-in market. These transactions demonstrate growing international interest in UK pension risk transfer and are expected to drive new capacity and continued demand over the coming years. This support increases insurers’ capabilities and broadens their investment scope, opening up new opportunities for UK pension risk transfer to be sourced and ultimately helping to support competitive pricing for pension schemes.”
