The latest results of the Milliman Pension Buyout Index (MPBI) shows that during March, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process climbed 40 basis points, from 100.5% to 100.9% of a plan’s accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO). That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 100.9% of a plan’s ABO.
During the same time period, the average annuity purchase cost across all insurers in the index rose 30 basis points, from 103.6% to 103.9%. The competitive bidding process is estimated to save plan sponsors about 3.0% of PRT costs as of March 31, 2026.
“LIMRA released the pension risk transfer results for 2025 last month, and despite a slower start to the year, they showed that a very strong fourth quarter brought the total over $48 billion—the fourth year in a row PRTs have exceeded $45 billion,” said Jake Pringle, Milliman Principal and Co-Author of the MPBI.
“Although annuity purchase costs increased this month, the competitive MPBI is around 100%, so plan sponsors are still seeing favorable results for their pension risk transfers.”
The MPBI compares the FTSE Above Median AA Curve to the annuity purchase composite interest rates from nine insurers to estimate the competitive and average costs of a PRT annuity de-risking strategy.
