Smart hits £5 billion Assets Under Management on Keystone

Smart, the London-headquartered fintech disrupting the global retirement savings market, has exceeded £5 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) on its proprietary Keystone platform.

Smart’s AUM has more than doubled since January 2022, with £5 billion representing a year-on-year increase of 117%. It also represents a 2,281% increase from £0.21 billion in December 2018, underlining the strong growth enjoyed by the fintech company.

This growth reflects the accelerating global demand among governments, financial institutions and employers for modern, digital retirement savings technology. A successful tech export story for the UK, Smart partners with governments and financial institutions around the world to deploy Keystone, giving retirement savers the experience they’ve come to expect from best-in-class digital experiences such as ecommerce sites and online banking.

Smart’s success is underpinned by its Keystone platform. Launched in July 2022, Keystone is the world’s first global, cloud-native, workplace retirement savings platform. The platform already powers numerous retirement savings solutions outside the UK. These include auto enrolment rollouts in several states in the US, and a partnership with the global insurer Zurich on the government workplace saving scheme for Dubai.

Smart is particularly well placed to benefit from recently passed legislation in the US, known as SECURE 2.0. Following on from the original SECURE Act, the recent legislation provides enhanced incentives for small businesses to offer retirement plans to their employees, as well as provides key provisions for delivering in-plan income in retirement, both of which are key areas of strength for Smart. Underpinning capabilities to deliver outcome-oriented investment solutions, including income in-retirement, last year Smart acquired Stadion Money Management, which provides retirement technology services across the US.

Smart also owns and operates the Smart Pension Master Trust, one of the largest master trusts in the UK and powered by Keystone. With over a million members, Smart Pension has emerged as the consolidator of choice in the UK, successfully incorporating a number of other master trusts. Last October, it acquired £158 million in assets from over 5,100 members in the Ensign Master Trust.

Organic growth has also been key in the UK, with more than 70,000 businesses now managing their employees’ retirement savings through Smart Pension. Last year, Smart Pension signed up thousands of ‘self employed plus’ couriers at Evri, the biggest dedicated parcel delivery company in the UK and also signed up the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), a UK executive non-departmental public body.

Andrew Evans, Group CEO and co-founder of Smart, said:

“We continue to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing by bringing clients onto our industry-leading platform, Keystone. More people than ever are now saving their money through Smart, and the strength of our platform has been an important driver of that. Our platform is scalable, cost-effective and can manage retirement savings seamlessly. For retirement savers around the world, this is a unique and incredibly compelling proposition. This is a $62 trillion global sector waiting to be disrupted, and we are uniquely positioned to take advantage of that.”

Will Wynne, Group MD and co-founder of Smart, added:

“Accelerating through the milestone of £5 billion Assets Under Management is a testament to the strength and resilience of our business, whether it’s our fast-growing UK master trust or our expanding international partnerships. There have been challenges with political uncertainty, inflation and the rising cost of living, but this makes Smart’s work even more important as we help people towards better financial futures across the globe.”

Smart recently won a series of awards for its workplace culture, with Great Place to Work® lauding the company’s UK, US, Spain and Poland offices. Smart UK was named as one of the country’s top 50 large employers.

Smart is also at the forefront of the sustainability agenda, with Smart Pension’s default growth fund entirely invested in funds that promote good ESG principles. The company intends for the fund to be net zero by 2040, and to have halved the fund’s carbon emissions between 2019 and 2025.