Mercer, a global consulting leader in advancing health, wealth and
careers, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies
(NYSE: MMC), today announced the launch of the Mercer Pension Risk
ExchangeSM (the “exchange”).The exchange is a groundbreaking
solution that helps plan sponsors execute group annuity buyouts in a
shorter timeframe and in a more competitive pricing environment. As the
first platform of its kind, the exchange increases liquidity and price
transparency by enabling plan sponsors to continuously monitor pricing
and contract terms available in the group annuity market. The exchange
also provides sponsors with greater exposure to a wider array of
insurers that could potentially act as transactional counterparts for a
buyout.
“Market pricing changes continuously based on interest rates and
insurers’ needs. The way to really know when the market is moving in a
direction favorable to the sponsor is to monitor prices specifically for
their plan. The exchange creates the platform for sponsors to do exactly
this,” said Jacques Goulet, President of Mercer's Retirement, Health,
and Benefits business.
The exchange provides real-time online annuity pricing and trigger
monitoring, combining a suite of buyout advisory and execution services.
These include:
-
Deal readiness: streamlining the process
by creating an industry standard for data preparation and document
specification.
-
Dynamic monitoring: monitoring prices and
metrics in real time to identify when conditions are optimal to
execute.
-
Execution support: providing
comprehensive support to sponsors and fiduciaries to help navigate the
complexities of the buyout execution – ranging from insurer due
diligence and asset preparation through to contract negotiation.
“Though sponsors’ appetite to transfer pension risk is high, they face
some barriers to execution. Lack of clear information about the true
cost of a buyout, limited transparency and the fluctuation of market
rates and plan dynamics are all major challenges,” said Phil de Cristo,
president and group executive of Mercer’s investment business. “We
wanted to empower plan sponsors to be more strategic and sophisticated
in their approach and to execute buyouts at the best times and at
competitive prices. The exchange offers a significant advantage to
sponsors considering a buyout.”
Notes for editors:
Mercer will conduct a webcast on Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 2pm EDT/1pm
CDT/12pm MDT/11am PDT. Link to register for the webcast can be found
here: http://ow.ly/NVKAT
About Mercer
Mercer is a global consulting leader in talent, health, retirement and
investments. Mercer helps clients around the world advance the health,
wealth and performance of their most vital asset – their people.
Mercer’s more than 20,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries
and the firm operates in over 130 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Marsh
& McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), a global professional services
firm offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk,
strategy and people. With 57,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue
exceeding $13 billion, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent
company of Marsh,
a leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy
Carpenter, a leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary
services; and Oliver
Wyman, a leader in management consulting. For more information,
visit www.mercer.com.
Follow Mercer on Twitter @MercerInsights.
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