Smart Pension has announced that the Crystal Trust has been consolidated into the Smart Pension Master Trust.

Crystal Trust, acquired by Evolve Pensions last year, provides workplace pension services to over 130,000 members, 1,400 employers and £880m in assets under management (AUM).

The initial agreement represented one of the largest master trust consolidations in 2023. It received approval from The Pensions Regulator last October, and all asset transitions were completed in August 2024.

Members and their assets have been migrated over in bulk to the Smart Pension master trust.

Transferred individuals and businesses now have access to all the benefits offered by Smart Pension, including their app, which is designed to enable easy management of pension savings for members and efficient contribution management for employers and advisers.

The collaboration was aided by the technological efficiencies offered by Keystone, Smart’s in-house savings platform, which powers the Smart Pension Master Trust.

Smart UK chief executive officer, Jamie Fiveash, commented on the deal: “Full scheme transitions and consolidations of this size are not straightforward, but it is a testament to the quality and experience of our teams, powered by our underlying technology, that this has been completed so effectively.

“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.”

Since this acquisition, Smart Pension has also announced a deal with STM Group, which currently operates the options master trust.

The transfer is expected to bring up to 300,000 members and £545 million in assets to Smart Pension, which, upon completion, could increase their AUM past £7 billion and 2 million members.

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