Friends Life, part of Friends Provident Holdings (UK), has appointed Richard Willets as director of longevity, as part of building its retirement income proposition, effective immediately.

In his new role, Richard will play an important role in the development of market-leading pricing and risk-management techniques for the retirement income market.

Willets has been managing director of longevity firm Willets Consulting since 2003. Previously, he worked for Paternoster, the Pension Annuity Friendly Society and Prudential

Friends Life director of retirement income David Still said Richard brings market-leading expertise in managing longevity risk, which is at the very heart of the annuities strategy and forms a critical foundation on which we will build the annuities business.