Malcolm Reynolds leads Mercer's pension administration business

15 January 2020 Consultancy.uk

The pension administration business of consulting firm Mercer has appointed a new UK leader: Malcolm Reynolds. He joins the firm following its acquisition of JLT, where he spent the last 17 years of his career.

Marsh & McLennan Companies sealed a £4.3 billion takeover of UK insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) in September 2018. The move saw Marsh & McLennan retain JLT's existing commitments to its defined benefit schemes, including planned deficit recovery contributions and contractually required contributions. The resulting merger of Mercer and JLT’s Employee Benefits division forged the largest pensions consulting business in the UK by turnover.

This has seen a great deal of cross-over from JLT to Mercer over the last year. Most recently, it saw Steve Sands appointed as the new UK Financial Planning Leader of global consultancy Mercer. Now, Mercer has continued to tap into JLT’s rich talent pool with the hiring of Malcolm Reynolds.

Malcolm Reynolds leads Mercer's UK pension business

Bringing over 30 years of experience in pensions to the firm, Reynolds has been brought on-board to lead Mercer’s UK pension administration business. In his new role, Reynolds will head up a team of over 2,500 employees across 21 locations in the UK and India, focusing on further enhancing client services and solutions to improve member outcomes. He will report to Mercer’s UK Head of Wealth, Benoit Hudon.

Hudon commented on the appointment, “Given his years of success in building and innovating in the pension administration arena, Malcolm will be an asset to our Wealth business and UK leadership team. I am very pleased to announce his appointment and through it reinforce our long term commitment to UK pension Administration.”

The last 17 years saw Reynolds work at JLT, where he most recently served as Managing Director of the firm’s pension administration business. This followed him being Chair of the company’s defined contribution and health businesses. Prior to JLT, Reynolds was a Director at PwC, responsible for leading its pension management consultancy business across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Speaking on his new challenge, Reynolds said, “Through the recent acquisition of JLT by Marsh & McLennan, two strong administration businesses are now coming together. We are combining the best of each business to create the most compelling offer available in the market, for the benefit of scheme members. By supplementing our traditional pension administration capabilities with digital solutions and financial planning capabilities, our key focus is on ensuring scheme members achieve good outcomes.”