Penbridge Advisors, a consulting firm specializing in pension risk transfer for U.S. defined benefit plans, opened its doors Monday.
The new firm uses a database developed by Penbridge's co-founder and partner, Stephen Keating, while he was managing director and head of U.S. business at Punter Southall Group subsidiary CAMRADATA Analytical Services.
Punter Southall holds a minority stake in Penbridge, while Mr. Keating and the other co-founder and partner, Robert Goldbloom, hold the remaining shares, Mr. Keating said in an interview. Mr. Goldbloom was senior vice president at American International Group before being signed on by Mr. Keating as an independent consultant at CAMRADATA, Mr. Keating said.
The new business has two components — consulting services specifically targeting DB plans that are considering pension risk transfer, and a free database created by Mr. Keating while at CAMRADATA that distributes data provided by insurance firms in the PRT marketplace, he said.
Along with looking for pension funds of all asset sizes as clients, Penbridge is also targeting a variety of firms, including investment consultants, actuarial firms, money managers and brokers. Its database currently has 128 plan sponsor clients and 171 advisory and other clients, including the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Mr. Keating said.
“We think plan sponsors should understand the true cost of liability pricing,” Mr. Keating said. “Insurers have different risk appetites, different durations, different premium sizes and desired risk profiles to take on plan liabilities. Put together, we can provide plan sponsors and advisers with a good gauge as to whether the time is right to do pension risk transfer.”
Penbridge is based in Stamford, Conn.
