Willis Towers Watson WTW Defined Benefit Plan Settlements Plan Assets

Annuity Purchase – In February 2025, the U.S. qualified plan purchased a nonparticipating single premium group annuity contract from a third-party insurance company and irrevocably transferred to that insurance company approximately $423 million of the plan’s defined benefit pension obligations and related plan assets, thereby reducing the pension obligations and assets of the plan by this same amount. The group annuity contract was purchased using assets of the plan and no additional funding contribution was required by the Company. As a result of this transaction, the Company recognized a one-time, non-cash pre-tax pension settlement charge of $82 million in the first quarter of 2025, attributable to the accelerated recognition of accumulated actuarial losses of the plan. An additional true-up to the settlement charge of $5 million was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.