A revolutionary step in longevity risk measurement was unveiled last night with the launch of Club Vita, the first dedicated longevity comparison club for UK pension fund trustees.

The launch follows a highly successful pilot completed this autumn with participation from some 100 large workplace pension schemes. The three-month pilot resulted in one of the largest, most rigorous research studies into the impact of longevity on occupational pension schemes.

Key findings from the pilot study:

• Life spans are improving by two more years each decade
• Top longevity influencers are lifestyle, gender, affluence, location, occupation
• Lifestyle contributes more to longevity than any other factor except gender
• Improving life spans cost pension schemes some £10bn each year

Nick Flint, Chief Executive of Club Vita, said:

“Longevity is one of the biggest risks facing pension schemes today. Although trustees can’t change this, they can certainly monitor and manage it more actively than before. Economic conditions are weakening and interest rates have fallen to their lowest in decades. For trustees, this means longevity has become more expensive. Club Vita gives pension schemes an early-warning system to avoid unpleasant surprises. By investing in twenty-first century tools, trustees no longer have to put their faith in heroic assumptions.”

Douglas Anderson, founder of Club Vita, said: 

“Club Vita uniquely combines statistical analysis with access to expert opinion in related fields, including medicine and ageing.  It is a longevity experience-sharing club, enabling trustees to see the trends emerge more quickly. Our data pool already has more than 11 million years of life and records of 400,000 deaths, with access to a rich range of new longevity predictors including lifestyle and salary. The pension schemes in our pilot have now received their analyses. The enthusiasm for converting this initiative into an ongoing club is really heartening.”

Club Vita has been set up as a separate entity by Hymans Robertson, the independent pensions and benefits consultant, and will roll out a range of longevity-related products throughout next year.

 
Notes to Editors

Club Vita (www.clubvita.co.uk)

Club Vita is the first ever longevity comparison club for pension fund trustees. It will create the richest data stream of occupational scheme members in the UK. Its remit is to create a community of like-minded people who can benefit from pooled pension fund data and scheme specific analysis, allowing trustees to analyse, understand and mitigate their longevity risk.

Club Vita has been set up as a new and separate entity by Hymans Robertson. Its independent supervisory board is chaired by Peter Thompson, former Chairman of the NAPF. Non-executive directors include Sarah Harper, Director of the Oxford Institute of Ageing and Mike Taylor, Chief Executive of the London Pensions Fund Authority.