Matthew de Ferrars

Practice Areas

Matthew is a Partner in Pinsent Masons London Pensions team with over 25 years’ experience advising on pension schemes. He leads their national specialist risk transfer team, advising trustees, sponsors, and insurers on pension scheme de-risking transactions. He’s also the longstanding trusted adviser to a number of ongoing pension schemes. He has a focus on guiding trustees along the journey from full buy-in to buy-out and wind-up to achieve a comprehensive liability discharge, with deep market and industry experience of every stage of the risk transfer process. Chambers & Partners 2026: "Matthew is very user friendly and responsive, with a solid grasp of the pensions risk transfer market."

Career

2010 - Made Partner Pinsent Masons

2000 - Qualified - England and Wales

1998 - Joined Pinsent Masons

Professional Memberships

Law Society of England and Wales

Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) Committee Member

Pensions Management Institute (PMI) Committee Member

Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) Committee Member

Work Highlights

Advising the trustees of the KION Group Pension Schemes on the £250m full buy-in with Canada Life. This five scheme buy-in project was complex and highly unusual as it was managed as a single transaction.

2024

Advising Just on the £42m buy-in of the Scottish Milk Limited Retirement Benefits Plan. The buy-in, which secured retirement benefits for all 452 members of the scheme, included a deferred premium element to enable the transaction to take place.

2024

Advising the trustees of the Westminster Abbey Pension Scheme on the £25 million full-scheme buy-in with PIC.

2023

Advising PIC on the £65 million buy-in of the Chemring Group Staff Pension Scheme.

2023

Advised Scottish Widows on a £320 million buy-in with the trustee of the De La Rue pension scheme.

2022

Advising Pensions Insurance Corporation on the negotiation of a series of complex, multi-scheme, multi-section bulk annuity transactions with defined benefit pension schemes, including the Gates Corporation’s Tomkins 2008 Pension Scheme.

2022

Industry Sector Expertise

Pension Trustees

Pensions Risk Transfer

Pensions and Long Term Savings

Pension Funds

Trustees

Experience

Specialist in pension risk transfer transactions, advising both trustees and insurers.

Pensions Risk Transfer team leader - bringing a specialist transaction team of seven partners and twenty-five lawyers to trustees, insurers, and scheme sponsors - to successfully deliver their bulk annuity and longevity transactions.

Headline experience includes advising on the UK’s first pensions longevity swaps for the Babcock International Group pension schemes and over the last ten years advising six of the bulk annuity insurers on their bulk annuity transactions with trustees.

Over the last few years guiding four major trustee clients from full buy-in to the end destination of buy-out and wind-up, and currently working with ten more who are at various stages on the same journey.

Education