U.S. corporate pension plan buyout sales totaled $6.3 billion in the first quarter, more than doubling the volume from the same period a year earlier, a LIMRA survey found.
The increase in buyout volume from $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2022 is particularly significant because corporations have traditionally waited until the third and fourth quarters of calendar years to complete pension risk transfer transactions, said Mark Paracer, assistant research director, LIMRA annuity research, in a news release Thursday.
It represents the largest volume recorded in a first quarter of any calendar year. Also during the quarter, LIMRA said a total of 116 buyout contracts were sold, a 55% increase over the first quarter of 2022.