Willis Re and Willis Towers Watson consultants acted as brokers and actuarial advisors in the recently completed Zurich Insurance Group subsidiary, Farmers New World Life (FNWL), and Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) agreement to reinsure roughly $2.3 billion reserves from its closed U.S. annuity book.
To ensure a full bidding process, FNWL said it employed additional outside advisors to get an independent actuarial appraisal of business and reinsurance structure optimisation.
Duncan Briggs and Christine Dugan from RCS (focused on the appraisal) and Mike Kaster and Mary Broesch from Willis Re’s Life Solutions Group were members of the Willis deal leadership team.
Zurich said the transaction demonstrated the group’s sharpened business profile and active capital management strategies.
Willis Re commented the transaction’s speed and success “was testament to the collaboration between Willis Re and RCS, and the cooperative spirit of both FNWL and RGA.”
