Hargreaves Lansdown Deepens Commitment to Workplace Pensions with Smart Group Alliance

Hargreaves Lansdown is strengthening its position in the workplace pensions market through a significant technology alliance with Smart Group, signalling its intent to scale up in the autoenrolled pensions sector. The partnership, announced by Richard Flint, the new chief executive, comes after the firm’s £5.4 billion acquisition by CVC and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund in March. The Bristolbased investment platform aims to enhance the versatility and scalability of its workplace pension operations, currently serving over 520 employers and more than 200,000 employees.

The deal focuses on integrating technology from Smart’s Keystone division, which will underpin operational improvements and help the division offer an expanded suite of workplace financial products, including savings accounts, nonpension investment accounts, and Isas. The initiative represents one of the most notable strategic directions under Flint’s leadership amid speculation about the future of the workplace division, previously regarded as subscale with £9 billion in assets under management.

The government has outlined ambitions to consolidate the sector, pushing pension providers to manage assets of at least £25 billion by 2030. The hope is that efficiency and scale will benefit pension savers, prompting firms like Hargreaves Lansdown to invest heavily to meet these regulatory expectations. According to Hargreaves Lansdown, the partnership with Smart Group is an affirmation of its determination to grow its workplace distribution channel, with plans to invest multiple millions of pounds in technological upgrades.

Smart’s Keystone platform currently powers one of the largest UK master trusts, Smart Pension, which supports two million savers and 100,000 employers and has been established through the consolidation of over ten master trusts. Smart Group, founded in 2014, counts several major institutional investors among its backers, including JP Morgan, Barclays, Legal and General, and Fidelity International.

Flint has stated that this technology partnership will transform the client experience for HL Workplace and marks a renewed ambition within this segment. Notable clients of Hargreaves Lansdown’s workplace division include Citybased firms such as Jupiter Fund Management, Shawbrook, Man Group, and the law firm Reed Smith, with their employees participating through group Sipps.

The platform faces growing competition from rivals like AJ Bell and Interactive Investor and has recently added Doug Abbott, previously of Vanguard, as chief product officer to oversee and enhance its financial products and workplace offerings. Hargreaves Lansdown serves more than two million clients and manages £173 billion in assets, having attracted a net 136,000 new clients in the year ending June.