Auto-enrolment start-up Smart Pension signed up 100,000 members to its master trust pension scheme in 2016, the firm has revealed.
The firm, which launched in 2015 and is part-owned by Legal & General Investment Management, is aimed specifically at small and micro businesses.
Smart Pension managing director Will Wynne said growth was exponential last year, putting the scheme into the “top table” of auto-enrolment master trusts.
“In May we were one of the first master trusts to gain the Master Trust Assurance Framework quality accreditation,” he said.
“The following month we were the tenth to be listed on The Pensions Regulator’s website, having passed the regulator’s strict financial criteria.
“We also added an adviser-facing platform that allows advisers and IFAs to on-board a number of clients in one sitting and built our own one click payroll interface that supports bulk data transfer which dramatically cuts down the time taken to process contributions.”
Mr Wynne said Legal & General Investment Management's purchase of a minority stake in Smart Pension in June had given members access to a range of defined contribution pension funds.
“It was the second funding round we completed this year, following closely on the heels of our Series A Investment Round from a range of fintech investors and entrepreneurs in the previous month,” he said.
“In addition we announced some high profile appointments – Duncan Howorth - former Jardine Lloyd Thompson chief executive joined our advisory board and former Lord Mayor of London Sir Anthony Joliffe, took the reins of the board as chairman in May,” he said.
james.fernyhough@ft.com
