UBS UK Pension Plan Completes £1.7 Billion Buy-In With L&G

According to Legal & General (L&G), the Trustee of the Plan and L&G have completed a buy-in covering the UBS Section. In a buy-in, the pension plan pays a premium to an insurer and holds the resulting policy as an asset, with the insurer's payments helping to fund members' benefits. The announcement does not give the premium terms beyond the £1.7 billion deal value.

The deal also dealt with an existing longevity hedge. This is a contract that protects against members living longer than expected. According to L&G, the Plan's hedge with Zurich was novated to L&G. The release does not say which party's position in the contract transferred. L&G says the longevity risk is reinsured by Canada Life Reinsurance.

For the market, the deal is a sign that schemes with existing longevity swaps can still reach insurance. The Trustee's advisers described the restructure as cost-effective. Aon's John Baines said the transaction kept many features members value most. Aon acted as risk settlement adviser to both the Trustee and UBS, the sponsor. These are the advisers' own assessments, and the release gives no figures to test them.

On competitive positioning, this is a repeat win for L&G. It completed a £900 million buy-in for the Plan's Credit Suisse Section in 2024. Both sections are now secured with L&G. L&G says it was chosen after a competitive process for its scale, execution certainty, competitive pricing and member experience. The release does not name the other bidders.

The deal also adds to L&G's volumes. The company says the transaction is part of the £5.7 billion of global pension risk transfer volumes reported in its 2026 Half Year Results. It also reports a £73 billion pension risk transfer annuity portfolio and roughly 800,000 customers worldwide.

The release points to preparation as a factor in the outcome. The Plan aligned its investment strategy with insurer pricing before approaching the market. The Trustee also put significant effort into data preparation. An innovative price lock gave price certainty before the transaction. Schemes weighing a similar move may take note of that sequence, though one case does not show it is typical.

The deal also ends the sponsor's pension risk on both sections. Chris Martin, Chair of the Plan, said the sponsor has now fully de-risked both Sections. He added that all Plan members now have their pensions secured by a major UK life insurance company.

Beyond L&G's own figures, the source gives no market-wide data, so the wider effect on pricing or capacity is not measured here. What to watch next is whether other large schemes with longevity swaps follow, and how L&G's pension risk transfer volumes look in its next results. No medication, treatment or supplement is involved, so the clinician disclaimer does not apply.

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