Achmea and Achmea Pension & Life Insurance have completed two longevity reinsurance transactions covering approximately €8 billion in pension liabilities, in deals that represent roughly half of Achmea Pension & Life's exposure to the risk that pensioners live longer than expected.
The agreements were struck with Munich Re and Pacific Life Re. Risk transfer took effect on January 1, 2026, and the contracts will remain in force until the underlying portfolio has fully run off, a process that can span several decades.
Arthur van der Wal (pictured above), CEO of Achmea Pension & Life Insurance, called the transfer a "deliberate and significant next step" in the company's long-term strategy, adding that the capital benefit will support growth ambitions in pension buyouts and further optimization of the investment portfolio.
The solvency impact is substantial. The transactions are expected to add approximately 49 percentage points to Achmea Pension & Life Insurance's Solvency II ratio, which stood at 187% at year-end 2025. Achmea's own group ratio of 193% is expected to rise by about 11 percentage points.
RGA has noted that indemnity longevity swaps, which match the insurer's actual liabilities for a specified group of policyholders, allow insurers to fully release the corresponding Solvency II capital charge. That mechanism explains the scale of the uplift.
Achmea Pension & Life Insurance is a joint venture between Achmea and US-based investment firm Sixth Street, established on October 1, 2025. Services and guarantees provided to policyholders are not affected by the transactions.
The €8 billion deal is sizable but not unprecedented in the Dutch market. NN Group has been the most prolific cedant in the Netherlands, having transferred the full longevity risk on €13.5 billion in pension liabilities across three deals completed in May 2020, and a further €13 billion in December 2023 in transactions disclosed at the time with Prudential Financial and Swiss Re.
Prudential Financial estimates the longevity reinsurance opportunity in the Netherlands could reach as high as $300 billion, driven by the country's pension overhaul under the Wet Toekomst Pensioenen. The legislation is pushing smaller pension funds toward buyouts, generating a wave of longevity risk that insurers then need to reinsure.
For Pacific Life Re, the Achmea transaction marks its largest longevity reinsurance deal in the Netherlands to date. Munich Re took the other portion of the liabilities.
Aon served as advisor on the transactions, with Hogan Lovells providing legal counsel. Further details are set to be shared during Achmea's online Investor Update on April 14, 2026.
