LONDON, July 11, 2024 – LifeSight, WTW’s UK defined contribution (DC) master trust, has reached £20 billion in assets under management (AuM), consolidating its position as one of the largest commercial master trusts in the UK market.
The milestone comes as the total number of pension scheme members covered by LifeSight has climbed to over 400,000 following some very prominent schemes joining LifeSight in recent months. Its membership includes over 5,000 members in LifeSight’s specially designed post-retirement drawdown section, making it one of the largest dedicated master trust drawdown sections in the UK. LifeSight also announced last month that it was taking advantage of its scale and investment expertise to provide its DC savers with affordable access to diversified, return-seeking illiquid asset classes such as private equity within all its default funds.
“The scale of LifeSight makes it viable to invest in new technologies, tools, and services that enhance members’ experience and understanding of their retirement savings.”
Jelena Croad | Head of LifeSight UK
Jelena Croad, Head of LifeSight UK, said: “The continued growth of LifeSight makes it one of the largest and most successful master trusts in the UK by asset size, as a consequence of our disciplined growth strategy since launching in 2015.
“The scale of LifeSight makes it viable to invest in new technologies, tools, and services that enhance members’ experience and understanding of their retirement savings. In addition, we have successfully been able to leverage our scale to ensure members continue to receive the best value from our high-quality investment options.”
LifeSight’s investment approach has focused on strong, sustainable returns that match its Net Zero commitment, made in 2021. That same year, LifeSight committed nearly £1bn to a new Climate Transition Index Fund as part of its default investment strategy, supporting climate transition risk within a mainstream equity portfolio.
Jelena Croad added: “The DC pensions industry is fast moving and highly competitive and we intend to continue to evolve LifeSight and innovate the proposition to ensure our clients and their members receive the best that WTW has to offer. We have some very exciting developments in the pipeline.”
LifeSight has also led the way in consumer facing savings technology, with its user-friendly member portal, dedicated app and ageOmeter tool enabling members to easily understand and manage their retirement savings and investments. Additional tools and services help members to manage their short, medium and long-term savings goals including its exclusive partnership with Octopus Money, announced last year, enabling members to access a dedicated money coach or personal finance adviser.
Launched in 2015, LifeSight was set up with an independent Trustee board and emphasis on strong governance. This framework helped it to become the first UK master trust to achieve authorisation by the Pensions Regulator, in February 2019. Since then, LifeSight has seen strong growth in both clients and members, with its AuM doubling to £20bn in the past three years.
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 want 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 members 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.
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