LONDON (11 June 2015) - Aon Hewitt, the global talent, retirement and health solutions business of Aon plc (NYSE:AON), has announced that it has advised the Kuwait Petroleum Services Company Pension Scheme on a bulk annuity deal with Partnership. It becomes the largest full scheme medically underwritten bulk annuity transaction yet completed in the UK.

To collect the health and well-being information from members, the trustees used Aon Hewitt's AHEAD platform which has been developed to give insurers the underwriting information they need in order to provide their most competitive quotation.

John Baines, principal consultant at Aon Hewitt said:
“This is the largest full scheme medically underwritten bulk annuity yet completed in the UK. Being able to secure all benefits in a scheme of this size is yet another milestone in this rapidly expanding market. We estimate that pricing was around 10% cheaper than a traditional bulk annuity would have cost.

“By using AHEAD we gained a 90% member response – a figure we have seen on all our AHEAD transactions so far – which gave the trustees access to a significantly better price than would otherwise have been available.”

Graham Smith, Chair of Trustees of the Kuwait Petroleum Services Company Pension Scheme, said:
"We have been working with our advisers with the aim of securing long term benefits for our scheme members. The culmination of this deal means that we can now provide additional security for these benefits. Aon Hewitt was able to offer us an integrated service throughout the process, and the deal they negotiated with Partnership offered great value for both members and the scheme sponsor."

Costas Yiasoumi, Director of Defined Benefit Solutions at Partnership, said:
“Over time we expect that an increasing proportion of bulk annuity transactions under £100 million will be medically underwritten.  We’re pleased to have worked with Aon Hewitt and the trustees to fully secure the member benefits.

“Our analysis shows that 93% of medically underwritten bulk annuity processes over 2013 and 2014 ended with successful insurer selection, an enviable achievement for the bulk annuity market*. The evidence is that when trustees have chosen the medically underwritten route the resulting pricing has met or beaten expectations.”
 
 

Media Contact
For further information please contact:
Colin Mayes                                     Marina Jane Sanchez
Aon Hewitt                                       CNC
01372 733689                                  020 3219 8811
colin.mayes@aonhewitt.com             marina.jane-sanchez@cnc-communications.com

Lee Blackwell,
Head of PR,
Partnership
020 7398 5986/07950798072
lee.blackwell@partnership.co.uk

Notes to Editors

Methodology:
* = Transaction rate of 93% based on analysis undertaken by Partnership of medically underwritten deals (>£1million) upon which Partnership was asked to quote over 2013 and 2014.  

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global provider of risk management, insurance brokerage and
reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more
than 69,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via
innovative risk and people solutions. For further information on our capabilities and to learn how we
empower results for clients, please visit: http://aon.mediaroom.com.

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Partnership
Partnership is a FTSE-listed specialist provider of financial solutions for people with health/ lifestyle conditions.

Partnership aims to offer higher retirement incomes than traditional providers by taking account of people’s health and lifestyle conditions.

Partnership is an expert in the field of medical underwriting and believes it has a market-leading in-house data set. Partnership believes that its years of accumulated data and knowledge give it an unrivalled understanding of the impact of health and lifestyle choices on longevity. It believes that this, in turn, enables it to offer a more accurate assessment of a client’s life expectancy and therefore offer the fairest price to them.

Partnership has a broad offering in the retirement sector and offers a full range of Enhanced Annuity solutions, from clients who smoke or have minor health impairments, through to serious conditions such as cancer. Partnership is a leading provider of annuities for Long Term Care funding in the UK. It entered the equity release market in 2011 with an Enhanced Lifetime Mortgage and also offers specialist protection solutions for clients who have been declined cover from standard providers.

Partnership offers a firm commitment to supporting advisers in growing their business.   Partnership has won many awards. These include:  
•    "Best Enhanced Annuity Provider" - Moneyfacts Awards 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
•    'Long-term Care Provider' award at the Health Insurance Awards 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
•    Best Annuity Provider - Professional Adviser Awards 2011
•    5 Star rating at the prestigious Financial Adviser Service Awards 2010, 2011, 2012 , 2013
•    5 star life and pension online service provider, FT Adviser Awards 2012
•    5 Moneyfacts Stars – Lifetime Mortgage – 2013, 2014
•    Best Retirement Provider – Professional Adviser Awards 2015

Follow Partnership to keep up to date with the latest press releases, media appearances and expert commentary: @Partnership_ or Partnership_PR on Twitter.