Note 12 — Retirement Benefits

Defined Benefit Plans

WTW sponsors both qualified and non-qualified defined benefit pension plans throughout the world. The majority of our plan assets and obligations are in the U.S. and the U.K. We have also included disclosures related to defined benefit plans in certain other countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland. Together, these disclosed funded and unfunded plans represent 98% of WTW’s pension obligations and are disclosed herein.

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost/(Credit) for Defined Benefit Pension Plans

Employer Contributions to Defined Benefit Pension Plans

The Company did not make any contributions to its U.S. plan during the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and currently does not anticipate making contributions over the remainder of the fiscal year. The Company made contributions of $1 million to its U.K. plans for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and anticipates making additional contributions totaling $1 million for the remainder of the fiscal year. The Company made contributions of $1 million to its other plans for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and anticipates making additional contributions totaling less than $1 million for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Annuity Purchases

In September 2026, the Company’s Willis Towers Watson Canada Retirement Income Plan, the Canadian registered pension plan (the ‘WTW Canada Plan’), purchased a single premium group annuity contract from a third-party insurance company and irrevocably transferred to that insurance company approximately $150 million of the WTW Canada Plan’s defined benefit pension obligations and related plan assets, thereby reducing the pension obligations and assets of the WTW Canada Plan by this same amount. The group annuity contract was purchased using assets of the WTW Canada Plan and no additional funding contribution was required by the Company. As a result of this transaction, WTW recognized a one-time, non-cash pre-tax pension settlement gain of $11 million in the third quarter of 2026, attributable to the accelerated recognition of accumulated actuarial gains of the WTW Canada Plan.

In February 2025, the Company’s Willis Towers Watson Pension Plan for U.S. Employees, a qualified pension plan (‘the WTW U.S. 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 WTW U.S. Plan’s defined benefit pension obligations and related plan assets, thereby reducing the pension obligations and assets of the WTW U.S. Plan by this same amount. The group annuity contract was purchased using assets of the WTW U.S. Plan and no additional funding contribution was required by the Company. As a result of this transaction, WTW 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 WTW U.S. Plan.

Defined Contribution Plans

The Company had defined contribution plan expense of $44 million and $127 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026, respectively, and $39 million and $120 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively.