NN Group offloads $4bn of longevity risk in new reinsurance deal with Prudential

NN Life & Pensions, part of the Nationale-Nederlanden (NN Group), has entered into a new longevity swap and reinsurance arrangement with Prudential Financial Inc., that will see the group transferring a further $4 billion of longevity risk.

The move follows a long history of utilisation of longevity risk transfer techniques by NN Group, to improve its capital and risk position when it comes to pension liabilities it holds.

The first time we covered a longevity risk transfer arrangement involving NN Group was back in December 2017, when the company entered into an index-based longevity hedge transaction with Hannover Re, in a deal covering the insurer against longevity trend risk associated with around EUR 3 billion of its liabilities.

Then, in May 2020, NN Group secured reinsurance and longevity swap arrangements with Canada Life, Munich Re and Swiss Re to transfer all of the longevity risk associated with some EUR 13.5 billion of pension liabilities from the Netherlands.

In February 2022 we also covered a further risk transfer for the life and pension company from the Netherlands, when Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) provided longevity reinsurance to NN Life covering €4 billion of underlying reserves.

In December 2023, NN Group announced a further successful transfer of €13 billion in longevity risk associated with pension liabilities in the Netherlands to an insurance subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc. and reinsurer Swiss Re.

That late 2023 deal was the first for NN Group where Prudential stepped in to take on some of the longevity risk it was looking to cede.

Most recently, in February 2025, Pacific Life Re completed a EUR 2 billion longevity swap reinsurance agreement with Nationale-Nederlanden (NN Life), covering a block of in-force individual annuity life policies.

Showing that over the last decade NN Group has offloaded meaningful amounts of pension and annuity related longevity risks to global counterparties and now Prudential is back providing the latest reinsurance capacity to support an additional longevity risk transfer for the company.

In reporting its results last week, NN Group said that a “new longevity reinsurance agreement” had assisted in improving its solvency ratio in the last quarter.

David Knibbe, CEO explained, “Our capital position increased with a Solvency II ratio of 208%, or 205% on a pro-forma basis, from 194% at the end of 2024, reflecting favourable market conditions, strong organic capital generation and a new longevity reinsurance agreement.”

The benefit is higher capital quality for the group, given the further reduction in longevity risk for NN.

During an earnings call, executives from NN Group were asked about this $4 billion longevity swap and reinsurance deal and said there is a target to undertake more of them, with a further $6 billion in liabilities perhaps set to be shed over time.

Counterparty Prudential Financial, Inc. gave more details on this $4 billion longevity risk transfer agreement with NN Life & Pensions, a subsidiary of NN Group, saying that the reinsurance covers approximately 96,000 policyholders with The Prudential Insurance Company of America (Prudential), and was effective July 1st 2025.

Prudential noted this as its second deal with NN Life and highlighted a market opportunity in the Netherlands.

During Prudential Financial’s own recent earnings call, CEO Andrew Sullivan said that the longevity risk transfer opportunity in the Netherlands could be as big as $300 billion, much larger than is seen in market’s like the UK at this time.

“It’s an area that is a very good growth area where we’re a leader in. That’s why you saw us do three transactions for $5.6 billion this quarter. It gives us healthy returns and gives us a lot of room to grow,” Sullivan said on longevity and pension risk transfer deals.

“Prudential is pleased to again collaborate with NN Life & Pensions, as we build the scale of our Institutional Retirement Strategies work in the Netherlands,” said Dylan Tyson, president of Retirement Strategies and head of the Prudential Financial Global Retirement Center of Excellence. “This longevity risk transfer further demonstrates our commitment to the global retirement marketplace, as we seek to help millions more people protect their life’s work.”

Rohit Mathur, head of International Reinsurance at Prudential Retirement Strategies, also commented, “The strong relationship we’ve fostered with NN Life & Pensions since the first transaction in 2023 led to a smooth and efficient close. Our ability to deliver customized reinsurance solutions further solidifies us as a global leader in assisting insurers and plan trustees. We continue to anticipate increased activity and demand in the Dutch market and are excited by the opportunities for Prudential to help those seeking to manage longevity risk as part of their strategic objectives.”

View details of many longevity swaps and longevity reinsurance deals in our longevity risk transfer deal directory.