Lara Desay joins Hymans Robertson’s Risk Transfer Team

7 October 2022

Risk transfer expert, Lara Desay, has joined Hymans Robertson, the leading pensions and financial services consultancy, as a Partner and Risk Transfer Specialist. Lara joins from Scottish Widows where she was Head of Origination and Operations for their bulk annuity team.

Prior to joining Hymans, Lara has played a key role in a number of significant risk transfer transactions including £15bn of transactions between the Lloyds Banking Group pension scheme and Scottish Widows. She also led the execution of Scottish Widows’ largest transaction to date, the £880m buy-in with the Littlewoods Pension Scheme, as well as their £510m transaction with the Aon Retirement Plan.

Commenting on what Lara will bring to the role, James Mullins, Partner and Head of Risk Transfer Solutions at Hymans Robertson said:

“We are thrilled to welcome Lara to Hymans Robertson and I know she will be a brilliant addition to our risk transfer team with her impressive transaction experience. The continued growth of our team will enable us to help even more pension schemes to insure their liabilities through buy-ins, buy-outs, longevity swaps and other alternative forms of risk transfer. We know from experience that trustees and sponsoring employers really value working with a consultant who has previously worked for insurance company buy-in teams and so has a clear understanding of how to get the best results from the insurers. This is particular important in a busy market, with our analysis showing that over £50bn a year of buy-ins are expected on average over the next five years.”

Commenting on her new role, Lara Desay, adds:

“I am really pleased to be joining Hymans Robertson at such an exciting time for the risk transfer team, and the market more broadly as we head into a busy period for buy-in transactions. I look forward to leading many more ground-breaking transactions and working to capture the best risk transfer solutions for our clients. Hymans Robertson’s risk transfer team is committed to providing tailored advice to each client, and I am delighted to be a part of this.”

Source: Hymans Robertson