Fintech Navro has partnered with existence verification provider MM to help pension schemes prevent international pension overpayments to deceased members.

The ‘first of its kind’ partnership will combine Navro’s global pension payments infrastructure with MM’s proof-of-life service to enable schemes to validate whether an overseas member is alive and correctly identified before executing the payment.

The offering aims to support pension schemes in not making overpayments to deceased members and strengthen trustees’ fiduciary controls through a closed-loop verification and payments process.

The firms noted that schemes were facing challenges in confirming that overseas members were alive and resident where records suggested, with more than one million UK pension scheme members living abroad.

MM’s overseas proof-of-life service includes member engagement, identity verification, official document support, single or bulk checking for large scheme member populations, and reporting and management information for trustees and administrators.

Navro and MM’s combined management information will help schemes to evidence who was checked, what the result was, and when payments were made.

Members will then follow a proof-of-life journey before receiving payments through Navro’s global payments network.

“Trustees are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are taking reasonable, proactive steps to protect members’ money,” commented Navro CEO, Aran Brown.

“Paying deceased members, especially overseas, is no longer regarded as an unfortunate inevitability; it is viewed as a preventable failure.

“By partnering exclusively with MM, we are providing our pension customers with a clear, defensible framework that links robust proof-of-life verification directly to our global payments infrastructure.

“The benefits extend beyond the schemes themselves. By eliminating the need for repayments during challenging life events, we remove the stress and upheaval for individuals when they are at their most vulnerable.”

MM managing director, Sam Drye, added: “Our focus is to make overseas proof-of-life verification simple, secure and scalable for pension schemes.

“Partnering with Navro allows schemes to connect our fully managed verification journeys to a modern payments platform, ensuring that only verified, living members are paid - and that trustees have the documentation and evidence required to stand behind those payments.”

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