Utmost Life and Pensions has officially announced its entry into the UK pension risk transfer market. The firm has built a team of more than 20 people focussed on bulk purchase annuity transactions and completed two deals with external pension schemes in Q4 last year.
The next phase of Utmost Life and Pensions’ strategy is being led by Chief Executive Officer Andrew Stoker, who has been appointed following the retirement of Stephen Shone. He was most recently the Chief Financial Officer at Rothesay, a position he held for nine years.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Stephen for his contribution to Utmost and for being instrumental in pivoting Utmost Life and Pensions from a closed book life consolidator to an active participant in the BPA sector. Andrew’s experience will be invaluable in continuing to strengthen our offering and further penetrating the large and attractive bulk purchase annuity market. It is pleasing to see that external pension schemes are already recognising the valuable addition that Utmost is making to the sector,” said Paul Thompson, Group Chief Executive Officer at Utmost Group.
“Since joining Utmost, I have been impressed by the calibre of the team and its strong ethos of customer service. Utmost Life and Pensions now has a strong platform for competing in the BPA market and we are building a compelling proposition for pension scheme trustees and members. I am excited by the opportunity to lead the next phase of Utmost’s BPA strategy,” Stoker added.