LONDON, January 17, 2023 – LifeSight has been appointed as master trust provider for leading science, technology and engineering solutions company, KBR, for its 6,400 UK defined contribution (DC) pension scheme members.
As part of the project, KBR also gave employees from recently acquired organisations the option to transfer their DC pension provision to LifeSight at the same time.
One such organisation – engineering systems consultancy, Frazer-Nash, which was acquired by KBR in October 2021 – has 800 UK DC pension scheme members. After a consultation process and tailored communication programme led by LifeSight’s dedicated in-house implementation team, 95% of Frazer-Nash employees opted to transfer their accrued funds into the UK master trust.
In total approximately £350 million of KBR members’ assets were transferred to LifeSight’s care between July 2021 and September 2022 as part of a carefully planned and bespoke onboarding programme for each separate entity involved.
Amit Roychoudhury, UK Benefits Manager at KBR said: “Choosing the right master trust provider was a big decision for KBR and its UK pension scheme members. As a multifaceted organisation, we needed to be sure that the provider we chose would be able to handle the complexity involved in onboarding employees from several different organisations that had recently joined the KBR family. LifeSight was able to demonstrate their expertise and flexibility in this kind of operation, as well as a commitment to member services, fully indepedent governance structure and investment in technology that stood out in the market. LifeSight’s investment options and commitment to sustainability was something we tested robustly and it came through with flying colours”
“This was exactly the kind of complex onboarding process that we specialise in, and we look forward to introducing KBR’s members to our unique tools and technologies.”
Jelena Croad | Head of LifeSight UK
Jelena Croad, Head of LifeSight UK, said: “We are delighted to have successfully onboarded all KBR’s DC members from across the organisation’s portfolio of companies and brands. This was exactly the kind of complex onboarding process that we specialise in, and we look forward to introducing KBR’s members to our unique tools and technologies that will help them to understand and manage their retirement savings effectively.”
Jane Platt, Chair of the LifeSight Trustee Board said: “On behalf of the LifeSight Trustee Board I would like to thank KBR for putting its trust in LifeSight to look after its members’ DC pensions. We are committed to providing all our members with the highest-quality service combined with robust and independent oversight.”
With the addition of KBR’s membership, LifeSight now manages the pensions for around 300,000 members with around £14bn secured in assets under management.
In 2021 LifeSight announced that it was investing $1bn in WTW’s Climate Transition Index (CTI) fund for mainstream mobilisation towards its climate goals. The index looks beyond carbon emissions to provide a more sophisticated way of managing climate risk, using its Climate Transition Value at Risk (CTVaR) methodology to analyse the impact that moving to a low carbon economy, aligned to the Paris agreement, will have on projected company cash flow.
LifeSight was the first master trust to embed ESG into its default investment strategies. In 2021, as part of its ongoing commitment to sustainable investing, LifeSight committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions across all its default funds by 2050 at the latest, with at least a 50% reduction by 2030. Its commitment to net zero covers all its defaults, which represent the vast majority of its total assets under management.
LifeSight is WTW’s master trust, a defined contribution multi-employer pension trust for employers who would benefit from high-quality, low-risk, market-competitive pension provision without the governance burden.
Running a defined contribution pension scheme is becoming complex and costly for a lot of employers. Governance is growing ever more onerous and schemes now have new pension flexibilities to contend with. Companies have struggled to find a high-quality alternative that has their employees’ needs at heart. LifeSight offers the best attributes of a trust in an outsourced arrangement. Our unique solution looks after the day-to-day running of the scheme, whilst an independent trustee board looks after the interests of your members.
LifeSight gives you access to our leading-edge digitalised platform, including the award-winning ageOmeter tool, and administration services. Combined with our proven expertise in investments and communications, LifeSight is the complete package.
At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance organizational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximize performance.
Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success.
KBR delivers science, technology and engineering solutions to governments and companies around the world. KBR employs approximately 28,000 people performing diverse, complex and mission-critical roles in 34 countries.
KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added services, and long-term operations and maintenance services to ensure consistent delivery with predictable results. At KBR, We Deliver. Visit www.kbr.com
