Building resilient funding and investment strategies for UK DB pension schemes
Running a defined benefit pension scheme requires an integrated understanding of its assets, liabilities, cashflows, funding position and sponsor circumstances. Brightwell brings these elements together through bespoke funding, investment and fiduciary solutions designed around each client’s objectives, while retaining flexibility as their long-term destination evolves.
From full fiduciary management and OCIO to specialist advisory mandates, we help trustees and sponsors make well-informed decisions, manage evolving risks and maintain a clear focus on delivering member benefits.
An asset-owner perspective, delivered at scale
Brightwell’s approach has been shaped by decades of experience managing the funding and investment requirements of one of the UK’s largest private-sector DB pension schemes.
We combine:
A bespoke open architecture solution built on 40 years of experience and deep relationships with external investment managers.
- Integrated funding and investment thinking, with liabilities and cashflow requirements at the centre of portfolio design.
- In-house risk-management capabilities, including LDI, implementation across portfolio risks.
- Open-architecture investment management, drawing on specialist external investment managers without an additional layer of proprietary product fees or product bias.
£33
billion assets managed
CDI
Manager of the Year 2026
40+
years of experience
How we support clients:
Fiduciary management and OCIO
- Bespoke investment and funding solutions aligned with each scheme’s objectives, governance resources and journey plan.
Investment strategy and portfolio construction
- Cashflow-aware portfolio design, manager selection and implementation across public and private markets.
LDI, hedging and collateral management
- Integrated management of interest-rate, inflation, currency, equity and longevity risks, supported by centralised liquidity and collateral management.
Funding and journey planning
- Advice that brings together scheme funding, investment strategy, sponsor circumstances and the practical requirements of different endgame options.
Purposeful run-on and surplus solutions
- An integrated approach to long-term run-on, through stakeholder alignment, governance, funding, investment, liquidity and potential uses of surplus. Read more here.
Specialist advisory and implementation
- Targeted support for strategy reviews, portfolio transitions, operational projects, manager appointments and tailored hedging solutions.
Investing with resilience in an uncertain world
Traditional risk management remains essential, but pension schemes also need a portfolio capable of responding to uncertainties that cannot always be reliably measured or predicted.
We define investment resilience as a portfolio’s ability to anticipate, withstand and adapt to a wide range of shocks while remaining aligned with the scheme’s long-term objectives. These may include geopolitical, financial, environmental, social and technological developments.
Our Resilience Investment Framework brings together four areas:
- Portfolio construction: diversification, liquidity, governance and careful risk selection.
- Mandate design and manager selection: flexible mandates and managers equipped to respond to changing conditions.
- Ongoing monitoring: exposure analysis, stress testing and vulnerability.
- Engagement and best practice: drawing on specialist expertise and sharing insight across our investment manager network.
Sustainability remains an important part of this approach. Our framework considers it alongside other material uncertainties, risks and opportunities, supporting better-informed decision across a range of possible futures.
Whether your scheme is planning to run on, preparing for risk transfer or reviewing its investment and funding arrangements, we can help you develop and implement a strategy designed around its particular circumstances.
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Disclaimer – There are other factors to consider when a scheme is deciding whether to buy out or run on. A buyout could be better for some firms depending on their circumstances and there are benefits associated with a scheme buying out over running on that you should do your own research on.
Explore more within Funding & Fiduciary Services
Resilience Investment Framework
Geopolitical instability, inflation, energy security, climate change, technological disruption and shifting social expectations are all shaping the environment in which pension schemes operate. For long-term investors, the challenge is not to predict every future shock, but to build portfolios that can anticipate, withstand and adapt to a wide range of possible outcomes.
Take me there – “Resilience Investment Framework”
Investment Philosophy
Every defined benefit pension scheme has its own objectives, liabilities, funding position, cashflow requirements and sponsor circumstances. We design and manage portfolio around each scheme’s objectives and required outcomes, rather than allowing conventional asset-class boundaries or market benchmarks to dictate the strategy.
Take me there – “Investment Philosophy”