JAB Insurance completes purchase of Utmost pensions business with assets of more than £5 billion
Key Facts
Utmost Group said on October 28, 2026, that it had completed the sale of group pensions business Utmost Life and Pensions to JAB Insurance, concluding a deal that transfers a specialist British platform to a new owner. The group said in its statement that the sale covered the business in its entirety. Utmost had put the platform’s assets at more than £5 billion, with 175 employees, when it announced the deal in December 2025. The change of ownership gives JAB a foothold in the British market, after it said when the agreement was announced that it was targeting entry into the UK insurance market. Available official sources did not confirm that the business would operate as JAB Pensions, so the available announcement does not establish a brand change.
The completion triggers financial steps for the seller: Utmost said it would repay the remaining £200 million in bank debt and return an additional £215 million in cash to its ultimate shareholders. The group had linked the sale to its decision to focus fully on its international wealth solutions business. The divestment follows record inflows of £9.7 billion in 2025, up 43% on the previous year, according to the chief executive’s review in the annual report. Utmost said those inflows supported growth in its core wealth business. The deal places the proceeds from the business sold in the context of the group’s portfolio reshaping and direction of cash toward its stated priorities.
Utmost Life and Pensions entered the group pensions market in late 2024, according to the group. As of December 22, 2025, it said it had completed 11 full pension buy-in transactions worth a total of £311 million. This provides context on the scale of the business transferred to JAB, alongside its assets and employees, while also showing that the deal record disclosed at the time covered a short period since entering the market. Utmost said the sale included the entire business, including its operations and employees. The new owner therefore takes over an established platform in the British group pensions market, with a disclosed record of full buy-in transactions since late 2024.
Utmost attributed its exit to a strategic choice to focus on wealth solutions, while the sale announcement in December 2025 had said completion was expected by mid-2026. The group announced completion in October 2026, after the timeline set when the deal was agreed. UK retirement-market data provides broader context for the business: the Financial Conduct Authority said individual annuity purchases rose 13.2% to 100,144 in the year ended March 31, 2026, compared with 88,430 in the previous year. Over the same period, the share of pension pots fully withdrawn fell to 45.8% from 47.4%. These figures relate to annuity purchases and pension-pot withdrawals, while the deal remains tied to Utmost’s group pensions business.
Utmost Life and Pensions said the change of ownership would not alter customers’ policy terms and that policy servicing would continue from its offices in Aylesbury. The company told customers: "We will continue to service your policies from our offices in Aylesbury, and there will be no change to their terms and conditions." The message addresses service continuity after the business changed hands, while the group has said the sale covers the platform’s entire business. The completion therefore combines a transfer of ownership with the company’s statement to customers that policy terms and service from its offices will continue. The available information gave no specific later date for a name change or other operational change.