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📋 '''Longevity swap''' is a [[Definition:Derivative | derivative]] contract used primarily by [[Definition:Life insurance | life insurers]], [[Definition:Annuity | annuity]] providers, and [[Definition:Pension fund | pension funds]] to transfer the financial risk that a defined population of individuals will live longer than expected, thereby increasing the cost of lifetime payment obligations. In the insurance context, the cedent — typically a carrier with a large [[Definition:Annuity | annuity]] book or a pension scheme seeking to [[Definition:De-risking | de-risk]] — agrees to make fixed periodic payments to a [[Definition:Counterparty | counterparty]] (often a [[Definition:Reinsurer | reinsurer]] or [[Definition:Investment bank | investment bank]]), which in return covers the actual benefit payments linked to the survival experience of the reference population.

⚙️ Structurally, a longevity swap resembles an [[Definition:Interest rate swap | interest rate swap]] but replaces interest rate cash flows with mortality-linked ones. The cedent pays a fixed leg calculated using an agreed [[Definition:Mortality table | mortality table]] and projection model, while the counterparty pays a floating leg that tracks the real survival outcomes of a specified cohort. If annuitants live longer than the baseline assumptions, the floating payments exceed the fixed ones, and the counterparty absorbs the excess cost — effectively indemnifying the cedent against [[Definition:Longevity risk | longevity risk]]. Transactions can be bespoke, referencing the cedent's actual policyholders, or index-based, referencing a published [[Definition:Mortality index | mortality index]]. Major [[Definition:Reinsurer | reinsurers]] and a handful of [[Definition:Capital markets | capital-markets]] participants act as counterparties, and contracts are typically documented under [[Definition:International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) | ISDA]] frameworks with insurance-specific modifications.

💡 The appeal for insurers and pension schemes is straightforward: longevity swaps remove one of the most difficult-to-hedge risks on their balance sheets without requiring the full transfer of assets and liabilities that a [[Definition:Buy-in | buy-in]] or [[Definition:Buy-out | buy-out]] entails. This makes them attractive for organizations that want to retain investment control while offloading demographic uncertainty. The market has grown significantly in the UK and is expanding into continental Europe and North America, driven by aging populations and tightening [[Definition:Solvency II | Solvency II]] and [[Definition:Risk-based capital (RBC) | risk-based capital]] requirements that penalize unhedged longevity exposure. For [[Definition:Reinsurer | reinsurers]] willing to warehouse this risk, longevity swaps represent a diversifying line of business — longevity risk is largely uncorrelated with the [[Definition:Catastrophe risk | catastrophe]] and [[Definition:Financial risk | financial market]] risks that dominate their other portfolios.

'''Related concepts'''
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Definition:Longevity risk]]
* [[Definition:Annuity]]
* [[Definition:Mortality table]]
* [[Definition:Pension risk transfer]]
* [[Definition:Life settlement]]
* [[Definition:Insurance-linked security (ILS)]]
{{Div col end}}

Definition:Longevity swap - Revision history

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