More people approaching retirement in the US and UK are choosing to manage their own savings rather than receive a guaranteed income for life. A new sigma study from Swiss Re Institute finds that shift is reshaping how life insurance and retirement products reach customers and who controls access to them.
The data is already visible in market behavior. In the UK in 2024, 36% of pension assets accessed by retirees were taken as cash rather than lifelong income.
The sigma study's most concrete finding for the reinsurance market is what the shift has set off in US distribution. Just three PE-backed US intermediary groups completed more than 300 publicly announced acquisitions of independent marketing organizations, field agencies, and advisory groups between 2017 and 2025, according to the sigma study. That consolidation is creating larger platforms with more capacity to invest in technology and advisor support. It is also giving those platforms greater influence over which life insurers reach retirement-age customers.
That concentration has a direct read-through for reinsurers. As larger intermediary platforms gain influence over product distribution, they tend to favor simpler, higher-volume products - fixed indexed annuities and structured income solutions over traditional whole life. That shift in product mix changes what cedants are writing and, in turn, what risks they pass upstream. Longevity exposure grows as annuity volumes increase; mortality and lapse risk profiles shift as the customer base skews older and more advice-dependent. Reinsurers pricing life and annuity treaties are already absorbing those changes, and the consolidation Swiss Re describes suggests the pace will accelerate.
The report identifies the years before retirement as the critical window. Income, inheritance, and care decisions begin to solidify in that period. Long-term care insurance typically needs to be arranged years before it is required. Insurers that are not present in the distribution chain before that window closes are unlikely to reach those customers at all.
Swiss Re is not a neutral observer of the dynamics its sigma study describes. Longevity business is the second-largest segment within Swiss Re's Life and Health Reinsurance division, at 17% of insurance revenue in 2025. In March 2026, Swiss Re completed its first longevity reinsurance transaction covering US retirees, a US$2 billion deal with Athene. The deal extended a market presence the reinsurer had previously built only in the UK, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Australia.
Velina Peneva, CEO of Swiss Re Life and Health Reinsurance, said the industry's opportunity is to combine the strengths of insurers, advisors, banks, and technology to help more people get the protection they need. James Finucane, head of Life and Health Economic Research at Swiss Re Institute, said trusted advice is becoming more valuable as people take greater responsibility for retirement. Greater access to retirement solutions, he said, can strengthen long-term financial resilience.
The sigma study reviewed 197 publicly reported AI and technology initiatives from leading global life insurers and intermediaries. Around 70% focused on the parts of insurance that consumers experience directly. A survey of nearly 3,000 consumers across seven countries found that nearly two-thirds preferred human interaction for complex transactions. The study concludes that technology works best when it reduces administrative burden for advisors rather than replacing the relationship retirement-age consumers still want.
