Smart Pension completes consolidation of Crystal Trust

Smart Pension, one of the UK’s leading workplace pension providers, has announced that the Crystal Trust, acquired from Evolve Pensions last year, has been successfully consolidated into the Smart Pension Master Trust.

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Evolve Pensions provided workplace pension services through their master trust, the Crystal Trust with over 130,000 members, over 1,400 employers and over £880m in AUM. Members and their assets have been migrated over in bulk to the Smart Pension Master Trust.

The deal represented one of the largest master trust consolidations of 2023. It received approval from The Pensions Regulator in October 2023 and the transition of all assets was completed in August 2024. The success of the transition is down to the collaborative efforts of the Evolve and Smart Pension teams, ensuring a smooth transfer for employers and members. This collaboration was aided enormously by the technological efficiencies offered by Keystone, Smart’s in-house savings platform which powers the Smart Pension Master Trust.

Transferred individuals and businesses now have access to all the benefits offered by Smart Pension, including their app, enabling easy management of pension savings for members and efficient contribution management for employers and advisers. Savings will now be overseen by the Smart Pension Trustee Board, ensuring continued and independent governance over members’ workplace pensions.

Since this acquisition, Smart Pension has also announced a deal with STM Group, who currently operate the Options Master Trust. The transfer is expected to bring up to 300,000 members and £545 million in assets over to Smart Pension, which could bring Smart Pension’s AUM past £7 billion and 2 million members upon completion.

Jamie Fiveash, Chief Executive Officer at Smart UK, said:

“Full scheme transitions and consolidations of this size are not straightforward but it is testament to the quality and experience of our teams, powered by our underlying technology, that this has been completed so effectively. Assets from the Crystal Trust have now been fully transferred onto the Keystone platform and into our default investment strategy, where we are focussed on delivering exceptional value for our members.

“Greater scale, means more efficiency and better value, ultimately leading to better financial outcomes for our members. Having now completed this transfer, we’re pleased to be providing our award-winning workplace pension to more and more savers across the UK.

“Smart Pension is on a growth trajectory and we will continue to seek out acquisition opportunities within the UK DC market as the pensions market continues to consolidate.”