Resolution Life's Bermuda reinsurance platform has completed a pension risk transfer (PRT) reinsurance transaction with a leading UK insurer. The deal is the company's fourth in two months and comes after three consecutive closings in Asia.
The transaction was executed through Resolution Re, the group's Bermuda-based reinsurer. Under the terms, financial risk is transferred from the UK insurer to Resolution Re. No financial terms were disclosed and the counterparty was not named.
The deal follows three Asia transactions confirmed in June 2026 that covered policies in Hong Kong and Japan. Resolution Life's acquisition into the Nippon Life group completed in October 2025. Nippon Life purchased the remaining shares in a transaction that valued Resolution Life at approximately US$10.6 billion.
Resolution Life manages approximately US$385 billion in assets globally and has served more than 13 million policyholders across its in-force portfolios. The group's businesses in the United States, United Kingdom, Bermuda, and Singapore now operate as a subsidiary of Nippon Life. Blackstone continues to serve as the group's investment manager following the acquisition.
Resolution Life's three Asia transactions were completed against the backdrop of Japan's economic value-based solvency regime, J-ICS, effective from March 31, 2026. The regime calibrates capital to a 1-in-200-year stress level and has made offshore reinsurance a capital-efficiency tool for Japanese insurers holding older long-dated guarantees. Several large-scale cessions to Bermuda platforms were announced in the first half of 2026 as Japanese insurers sought capital relief under the new framework.
In January 2026, Achmea Pension & Life Insurance ceded €8 billion in longevity risk to Munich Re and Pacific Life Re in the Netherlands. Dutch pension reform legislation has generated a wave of longevity risk that primary insurers reinsure offshore through Bermuda platforms. Bermuda-based reinsurers are absorbing a growing share of European longevity risk as pension reform drives demand for risk transfer capacity.
WTW put the UK PRT market's cumulative transaction total at more than £0.5 trillion by the end of 2025. Its February 2026 de-risking report forecast total UK PRT risk transfer of £70 billion for the year, up 15% from 2025. Bulk annuity volumes are projected to exceed £50 billion, and the PRA's review of funded reinsurance may create pricing headwinds for individual insurers.
"We are proud to build on our European presence and be of service to the primary life industry in the UK," Rushabh Ranavat, Resolution Life's chief executive for Asia and Europe, said. He described the transaction as the result of a partnership and said the company would continue to develop its presence across UK and European markets.
