Broad PRT Market Growth Continued in 2024

More defined benefit plan sponsors moved to de-risk their pension funds by selling the obligations to insurers in 2024. The pension risk transfer market grew as total U.S. single-premium PRT sales hit $51.8 billion, up 14% from the prior year.

The market’s result in 2024 was less than 1% off the record set in 2022, according to LIMRA’sU.S. Group Annuity Risk Transfer Sales Survey.

In 2024, there were 794 single-premium contacts sold—a new record for the U.S. market. The year’s fourth quarter saw total single-premium PRT sales fall 4% year over year to $12 billion, which LIMRA found aligned with the “choppy nature of PRT sales.”

According to Keith Golembiewski, LIMRA’s assistant vice president and head of annuity research, 14 carriers closed at least one deal worth at least $1 billion in 2024.

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“The PRT market continues to expand,” Golembiewski said in a statement. “While recent interest rate declines and equity market volatility may dampen sales later in 2025, greater plan sponsor awareness of these solutions will keep interest high and sales above pre-pandemic levels.”

Some of the largest PRT deals in 2024 includedIBM Corp.’s $6 billion transaction,Verizon Communications Inc.’s $5.9 billion transactionandShell USA Inc.’s $4.9 billion transaction, all conducted with Prudential Financial Inc.

LIMRA also found that single-premium buyout sales, tracked separately from single-premium PRT sales, . There were 254 buyout contracts finalized in the fourth quarter, 9% fewer than in the prior year’s fourth quarter. But over the whole year, buyout premium jumped 16% to $48.1 billion.

A group annuity risk transfer, such as a pension buyout, allows an employer to transfer all or a portion of its pension liability to an insurer. In doing so, the employer removes the liability from its balance sheet and reduces the volatility of its funded status, according to LIMRA.

Corporate pension funding ratios declined in February, a result of both weak equity returns and an increase in the value of pension liabilities.

Tags: LIMRA, Pension Risk Transfer, PRT

Nicolai Tangen

Norges Bank Investment Management, the entity which manages the $1.8 trillion Government Pension Fund Global, Norway’s the sovereign wealth fund, announced Tuesday the reappointment of CEO Nicolai Tangen for a second five-year term.

Tangen was originally appointed as CEO in 2020, succeeding Yngve Slyngstad, who had been CEO of NBIM for 12 years. Tangen was previously the founder and CEO of AKO Capital, a London-based hedge fund.

Tangen’s current term is set to expire on August 31. In November 2024, Tangen said he would seek another term as CEO.

“Over the past four and a half years, [Tangen] has demonstrated a strong ability to deliver and achieve solid results as CEO of NBIM,” said Ida Wolden Bache, chair of the NBIM executive board, in a statement. “In the view of the Executive Board, Nicolai Tangen is the right person to head NBIM in the years ahead. We are pleased that he has accepted a further term as CEO.”

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NBIM manages and invests Norway’s oil and gas revenue and is one of the largest institutional investors in the world, often trading the top spot with Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund.

The fund allocates 71.4% of its assets to equities, 26.6% to fixed income, 1.8% to real estate and 0.1% to renewable energy infrastructure. In 2024, the fund returned 13.1%.

“Creating wealth for the Norwegian people is the most rewarding job I have ever had,” Tangen said in the announcement. “I therefore deeply appreciate this renewed trust and look forward to five more years with my talented colleagues.”