Club Vita to provide longevity analytics through Mantle

Club Vita, an international leader in longevity data analytics, today announced an integration with Mantle, the leading valuation and administration platform for the UK pension market. This collaboration enables the pension consultancies that use Mantle to seamlessly access Club Vita’s longevity analytics. Consultants and actuaries will be able to analyse the demographic characteristics of pension scheme members and reflect this in bespoke, member level longevity assumptions, rather than relying on average life expectancy tables based on the wider population.

This new Mantle longevity functionality, powered by Club Vita, has already been adopted by Spence & Partners (Spence) - the sixth pensions advisory business to use Club Vita analytics to inform their advice. Their clients will benefit from the longevity insights derived from Club Vita’s data set, covering 1 in 4 of all pensioners in the UK in receipt of defined benefit pensions, enabling tailor-made longevity assumptions.

Commenting on the collaboration, Mark Sharkey, Head of Client Delivery at Club Vita, notes:

It is great to be able to work together with Mantle to enable us to provide our whole of market longevity analytics to a wide range of pension schemes and actuarial advisors across the industry. We know from discussions with the hundreds of pension schemes we currently work with that having access to bespoke longevity analytics will be an enormous boost to the risk management capabilities of schemes and their advisors. Across the UK we see a 5-year “longevity gap” between pension schemes at the upper and lower ends of the life expectancy scale, with even more disparity between individual members. In general, every additional year of life expectancy broadly translates to a 4% increase in liabilities for a typical pension scheme. It is clear, therefore, that schemes need to take account of the specific socioeconomic characteristics within their membership if they are to tackle longevity risk effectively and secure better outcomes for members. As we emerge from a global pandemic, it is evident that a “one size fits all” approach to longevity assumptions doesn’t make the grade for effective risk management.

Commenting on the new longevity functionality, Graeme Riddoch at Mantle, notes:

Working with Club Vita is a game changer for the longevity functionality that we can offer our clients and we are delighted that they have joined us on our journey to transform the pensions industry. Mantle is the market-leader in software that combines actuarial functionality with related administrative processes to provide real-time analysis and inform decision making. This collaboration will provide a cost-effective route for actuaries and consultants to analyse the demographic characteristics of pension scheme members and gain greater insights on their individual life expectancies – a core component of valuing pension scheme liabilities.

Commenting on the benefits for their clients, Alan Collins, Head of Trustee Advisory Services at Spence notes:

Mantle is at the heart of Spence’s operation and powers our administration and actuarial services. As pension schemes continue to increase levels of interest rate and inflation hedging, longevity remains a substantial unmanaged risk for many schemes. This latest innovation gives our consultants the tools to measure and monitor pensioner life expectancy and help clients tackle longevity risk head-on. Working together with Club Vita gives us access to sophisticated longevity analysis which is aligned with the methods used by insurers and reinsurers and will help level the playing field for our pension scheme clients that approach the risk transfer market.

Further information:

Shared on Professional Pensions:

Club Vita to provide Mantle with longevity analytics (professionalpensions.com)