Longevity/mortality team of the year: Hymans Robertson
Hymans Robertson's longevity team has helped clients tackle a range of challenges and issues on various aspects of longevity including trends, bulk annuity markets, pricing on individual transactions.
Broadly, the team has produced a number of research reports and insights into longevity including its Longevity Trends report and Continuous Mortality Investigation models survey. But one of the team's proudest achievements has been the creation of Club Vita: a collaborative effort with defined-benefit pension schemes, insurers, academics and advisors to improve the understanding of longevity.
Led by Andrew Gaches, head of longevity, life and financial services, the team of 20 has leveraged data from Club Vita and combined this with its own research, to advise clients on the magnitude of their longevity risks and how they can best manage them.
For instance, a global insurer wanted to enter the longevity-swap market and required an independent view on baseline longevity assumptions for target portfolios. The team applied the insights from the Club Vita dataset to highlight unusual issues and features of the target portfolio and its longevity experience. As a result, Hymans Robertson says, the client successfully entered the market with confidence and the transaction went through.
Hymans Robertson's longevity team has also refined its views on broader demographic assumptions such as marital proportions. For example, by quantifying how men with large pensions are more likely to be married, data from Club Vita provided insights which have enabled clients to set appropriate, profitable, pricing for longevity swaps.
In addition, the team has developed an approach to modelling the capital required for longevity risk by involving actuaries, statisticians and medical experts, providing greater clarity over their capital requirements and supporting evidence to justify them to regulators.