26 July 2013

Legal & General has appointed Michael Walker as the Commercial Underwriting Manager for their highly successful Bulk Purchase Annuities and Longevity business.

Michael has 12 years experience in the pensions arena, joining Legal & General from Aon Hewitt's Retirement Practice, where he was a Principal Consultant and Scheme Actuary, advising pension schemes with aggregate liabilities in excess of £20bn. Michael brings extensive experience of advising both trustees and sponsors of UK and overseas pension schemes on funding, de-risking solutions and wider pension scheme management.

In his new role Michael will lead one of two teams responsible for the underwriting of Legal and General's Bulk Purchase Annuity and Longevity Insurance transactions. Michael continues in his roles as a member of the Pensions Board of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and Chairman of their Pensions CPD Committee.

Tom Ground, Head of Legal and General's Bulk Annuity and Longevity Insurance business said, "2013 is proving to be a fantastic year for pension insurance de-risking with Legal & General having already secured over £5bn in insurance de-risking transactions.

Many trustees and sponsors are looking to secure their pension liabilities and Legal & General is able to provide a wide variety of tailored de-risking solutions. We expect a substantial number of transactions to complete in the second half of 2013 as the de-risking market continues to be buoyant. Michael's significant experience as a trusted adviser to a wide variety of UK and overseas pension schemes means we will be well placed to help trustees and sponsors in arranging their de-risking solutions."

Legal & General offers a range of de-risking solutions, which include, buyout, buy-in, longevity insurance, liability-driven investment (LDI), and more recently a deferred premium facility, to pension schemes of all sizes. Legal & General is also able to tailor a combination of LDI and longevity insurance to provide "DIY buy-in" solutions and has an in-depth understanding of mortality trends and longevity risk.

Corporates, trustees or advisers looking for further information on the pension scheme insurance de-risking solutions available from Legal & General should call the team on + 44 (0)20 3124 2979.      

Notes to editors

Background on Legal & General - Legal & General is one of the UK's leading financial services companies and one of the UK's top 50 companies in the FTSE 100 Index.

Legal & General has been an active participant in the insurance solutions pension de-risking market for over 25 years and has arranged over 3,250 bulk annuity policies. Legal & General's pensions insurance de-risking team were winners, along with Legal & General Investment Management, (LGIM), of the PIPA award for Best De-Risking provider 2011; voted Buyout Firm of the Year at the European Pension Awards in June 2012 and Risk Reduction Provider at the UK Pension Awards in May 2013.

Legal & General provides annuities to over 700,000 current pensioners and over 170,000 deferred pensioners.

The information contained in this release is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.

Legal & General Assurance Society is authorised by the prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the prudential Regulation Authority.

Legal & General Assurance Society Limited. Registered address: One Coleman Street,London EC2R 5AA. Registered in England No 166055.

For more information please contact:


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