David Lane: Positioning TPT as a broad-spectrum consolidator
After several years of quiet development, 2025 saw TPT Retirement Solutions become more public with the strategic ambition it has been developing behind the scenes for some time.
In May, TPT announced its intention to enter the multi-employer collective defined contribution (CDC) pensions market. Just months later, in October, the consolidator said it would launch a defined benefit (DB) superfund designed to support run-on.
TPT Retirement Solutions chief executive David Lane says that, while 2025 was "a year of innovation", it came on the back of a multi-year strategic build-out – a build-out that began with the launch of its full-service DB multi-trust solution in 2023.
The DB multi-trust solution provides schemes with access to fiduciary management as well as actuarial, covenant, administration, accounting and secretarial services, while retaining the existing scheme structure and trustee board.
This service complements the organisation's long-standing DB master trust, as well as its fiduciary management service, which forms part of its DB multi-trust solution, but is also offered as a standalone service.
Lane says TPT is "agnostic" as to whether trustees and employers want to run-on their DB schemes, take them on to buyout or move to a superfund – noting the organisation's key goal is to understand what they are trying to achieve and then help them deliver it.
He explains: "It is important to us to have all of the building blocks in place to be that broad spectrum consolidator and be able to meet whatever it is that an employer or a trustee wants to do and then use our scale to benefit members and lower the costs of our DB propositions."
He cites one small (£10m) DB section that moved into TPT's DB Complete proposition five or six years ago and has now completed its journey to buy‑in — faster and at a lower cost than it could have achieved on its own.
"That's exactly what consolidation should deliver," Lane says. "Better governance, optimal value, and, ultimately, better member outcomes."
A new model of superfund
TPT points to The Pensions Regulator's work on endgame strategies over the past couple of years – including the development of its guidance on new models and options in DB pension schemes – as a key driver in the market, alongside the Pension Schemes Bill, which will establish a permanent legislative framework for DB superfunds.
Lane says it felt like this work was "drawing superfunds more into the mainstream" – encouraging trustees to look at a broader spectrum of endgame solutions and generating market interest from consultants.
He explains: "There is a desire to see more choice for schemes, rather than just insurance."
TPT says it was this increased desire for more options, along with the fact it already has many of the capabilities needed, that led it to announce the launch of its own DB "superfund alternative".
Lane says TPT's superfund offering will differ from that of Clara's in that it will focus on long-term run-on, rather than acting as a bridge to buyout, and there will also be the potential for surplus sharing with members after five years.
He says he expects to see further new entrants come to market – adding that a growing market would give trustees and employers more choice in terms of what they want to do.
TPT has moved quickly to develop its superfund ahead of TPR's assessment of its proposition and the Pension Schemes Bill coming into force.
In November, it appointed an independent trustee board for the superfund – saying the board would be chaired by Aretas Trustees professional trustee Nadeem Ladha and also include Law Debenture professional trustees Rekha Owen, BESTrustees director Huw Evans, and Capital Cranfield trustee director Kate Grant.
The consolidator then moved to hire advisers to the superfund Trustee – appointing Mercer as the scheme actuary, LCP to provide investment oversight, EY as the risk adviser and Gowling WLG as legal adviser, to complement the services they have in-house.
TPT says it has been speaking to TPR for the past year about its plans in the superfund space and is hoping to complete assessment by early autumn this year.
It says it is already in discussion with employers and schemes for whom this might be an appropriate option and hopes to be ready to transact by early next year.
At the time it announced the launch, TPT said the proposition had secured capital to fund the first £1bn of transactions but Lane says the offering doesn't represent a "do or die" for the business as it already has much of the capability for the superfund – such as administration, actuarial services and investment management – in place.
He says: "Even if there is a relatively low level of business, we'd still be able to run it. But obviously, we are hoping for better."
A first‑of‑kind multi‑employer CDC scheme
While TPT's superfund announcement extended its DB proposition, the provider's other major development in 2025, the announcement of its intention to enter the multi-employer CDC pensions market, breaks new ground.
The move came after pensions minister Torsten Bell confirmed plans to lay legislation to allow such schemes to be established – legislation that was laid before parliament in October alongside the publication of a consultation on policy for retirement CDC schemes.
TPT has already appointed a trustee board for its multi-employer CDC scheme – a board that will be made up of Zedra's Kim Nash, Falcon Trustees' Venetia Trayhurn and Vidett's Alison Hatcher – and hopes to submit its assessment for TPR later this year ahead of onboarding the first employers in 2027.
In parallel, TPT says it will also develop bespoke single-employer CDC schemes for larger businesses seeking tailored solutions.
Lane says: "We were convinced from the conversations we had with a number of employer contacts that there is still a section of the market that wants something better than DC, but without the employer obligations of running a DB scheme."
He notes TPT has 80 years of experience running multi-employer arrangements so the idea of operating a CDC offering wasn't a difficult one for the firm.
But he says the challenge will be both finding organisations bold enough to be the first movers and communicating how the scheme works.
Lane explains: "Getting that across to people and then finding people who are willing to step into something that's relatively new is challenging, but we've had sufficient interest to give us the strength and conviction that if we build it, sufficient numbers of people will come."
Decumulation solution
As well as this, TPT Retirement Solutions also launched a defined contribution (DC) decumulation solution during the year in a bid to simplify retirement income planning for savers.
The provider says the new proposition is a managed income for life proposition that aims to provide a simple, cost effective and easy-to-use alternative for members who do not want to make investment decisions, carry out complicated calculations or seek financial advice.
For those opting for its income for life product, TPT calculates and pays regular drawdown payments, managing the level of withdrawals so that a member's pot lasts for their "lifetime" – with regular income payments being paid until a member is 95 years old, at which point TPT said the strategy aims to leave two to three years payments in the members drawdown account.
If a member is planning to buy a guaranteed income or annuity in later life, the proposition also offers an annuity-targeted option that will pay regular payments to age 75, at which time the strategy aims to enable the member to lock into the same level of income on a guaranteed basis.
Lane says the response to the launch, particularly from the consultancy community, has been positive – with it being seen as an innovative response to the "do it for me" need that many DC members have at retirement.
He says: "It was really important for us to have a default that turns the DC pot into an income for life, but one that also provides members with options and the ability to opt out of that if they want to."
Yet, despite the government launching a consultation on retirement-only CDC in October, Lane says TPT has no immediate intention to build a retirement only CDC solution, but will keep "close" to developments.
He says: "We think our current managed income for life solution for DC gives sufficient flexibility in terms of what a DC member might want to do and what an employer might want to do in terms of its pension offering."
Completing the investment toolkit
Another major milestone for TPT in 2025 was the expansion of its in‑house investment proposition and the launch of further "building blocks" – including a £600m global equity fund; a £170m global credit opportunities fund; and a £720m investment grade bond fund — in 2025, with a property fund to follow early this year to complete its offering.
Once complete, Lane says this architecture will allow TPT to operate an internal investment market – enabling its DB, DC, CDC and superfund propositions to share common components.
He says: "What that building block structure enables us to do is create an internal market allowing us to use the same structure across our offering and leverage our capability within our multi-employer arrangements."
Lane adds: "Making sure we've got that capability, not only having the breadth of propositions, but having the operating model that makes that work efficiently has been an important piece of work for us."
A landmark year
Throughout the interview, Lane returns repeatedly to the theme of scale — not as an end in itself, but as a means of improving governance, technology, investment, member engagement, and outcomes for members.
And he says TPT Retirement Solutions very much wants to be part of that consolidation push.
"There are still around 4,800 legacy DB schemes in the UK and not all of them will be suitable for insurance," he notes. "Being part of our ecosystem can help those schemes get a better outcome."
We have come a long way this year in positioning TPT as a broad spectrum consolidator, with strong in-house capabilities and a focus on member outcomes."
