Hymans Robertson, the pensions, actuarial and financial services consultancy, has announced two new experienced hires to its Edinburgh office as the firm’s risk transfer team continues to grow.

Catherine Thain and Christian Ah-See join the consultancy as Risk Transfer Specialists at a time when 2024 buy-in and buy-out volumes reach record highs.

Prior to joining Hymans Robertson, Thain has 12 years’ insurer side experience at Lloyds Banking Group, including four years as Actuarial Manager in the buy-in team at Scottish Widows.

In her most recent role, Thain priced and executed buy-in transactions, as well as supporting schemes on their way to buy-out.

Ah-See joins Hymans Robertson from Barnett Waddingham where he started his career as a graduate. He has experience specialising in the investment concerns that defined benefit (DB) schemes face during the risk transfer process.

James Mullins, Partner and Head of Risk Transfer Solutions at Hymans Robertson, said: “We are delighted to welcome Catherine and Christian to the risk transfer team at Hymans Robertson and see this as a real opportunity to grow and enhance our Edinburgh risk transfer offering. Catherine has significant insurer-side experience.  Her understanding of how the market operates and knowledge of how insurers prioritise will be a great benefit to our clients. Indeed, our clients will now benefit from over 40 years of senior insurer-side experience in the Hymans’ risk transfer team, as Catherine joins Michael Abramson, Lara Desay and Verity Hastie.

“Christian joins us to further boost our bespoke risk transfer investment expertise. This will help pension schemes to capture opportunities to save money in lower transition costs and to reduce investment risk as they complete their buy-in transactions, ensuring members are achieving the best outcomes possible.”