Festina Finance has announced that its Life and Pension Platform is now fully operational in the UK, offering administration solutions to clients across Defined Benefit (DB), Defined Contribution (DC), Collective DC (CDC) and life insurance markets.
The company, which has established a presence in Denmark and the Netherlands, is extending its reach with a platform that it reports is on track to support more than 8 million members and over £700 billion in assets.
Clients using the system include PensionDanmark and APG, the largest pension provider in Europe.
Festina’s Life and Pension Platform is cloud-native and designed to handle large-scale pension administration functions. According to the firm, the platform has been built to address operational complexity through modular architecture, configuration-based customisation, and integration flexibility.
One of the system’s technical features is its modular structure based on Gartner’s pace-layered application strategy. This allows clients to integrate the platform at a rate aligned with their internal priorities, without requiring wholesale replacement of legacy systems.
The platform also enables no-code configuration, allowing users to adjust scheme designs, fees, and rules through settings rather than development work. This includes building or adjusting CDC, DC, or DB schemes without requiring new code or external change requests.
Dan McLaughlin (pictured above), UK country head at Festina Finance, said the system was designed from the outset to be configured for different markets, making the UK a logical expansion step.
“Over the past few months, we’ve quietly been laying the groundwork — listening, collaborating, and adapting to local needs,” he said. “Today, we’re proud to pick up the pace of our UK roll and bring our proven, transformative and trusted administration technology to help build a more agile and responsive pension ecosystem in the UK.”
McLaughlin also noted that that financial technology should support flexibility rather than limit it. He said UK schemes operating under regulatory pressure can use the platform to achieve scale and adaptability while avoiding extended implementation periods or high change costs.
“The UK pension landscape is at an inflection point, with increasing complexity and member expectations colliding with legacy tech constraints, we want to break that cycle with a new era of pension innovation — where providers have the tools to deliver efficiently and members get the experience they deserve,” he said.
Festina Finance’s expansion coincides with increased activity in the UK’s DB de-risking market, which WTW forecasts will reach £70 billion in 2025. Of this total, approximately £50 billion is expected to come from bulk annuities, while the remaining £20 billion will involve longevity swaps.
These projections follow a year in which the market approached £60 billion in total volume, reflecting improved funding levels and growing scheme readiness.
In 2023, bulk purchase annuity volumes rose sharply to £50 billion, marking a significant year-on-year increase. Improved scheme funding and favourable market conditions led to a greater number of transactions, particularly among schemes seeking to lock in risk transfer opportunities.
The increase in transaction volume has also encouraged more insurers to enter the UK de-risking space. New market entrants are focusing on smaller pension schemes, typically those with assets under £100 million, and are offering simplified, template-driven transaction options to enable broader access to the market.
Market conditions are also being shaped by regulatory developments. The introduction of Solvency UK, expected by the end of 2024, is anticipated to influence pricing dynamics in both bulk annuities and longevity swaps.
Increased oversight by the Prudential Regulation Authority is likewise expected to impact how providers approach capital requirements and risk-sharing structures.
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