17 December 2019
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HSBC's master trust has been approved by the regulator
The HSBC Master Trust has become the first new master trust to be authorised by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), after having applied after the regime kicked off.
The approval announced today (17 December) - which comes over a month after the regime concluded for existing schemes - takes the total number of authorised schemes to 38.
A spokesperson at HSBC said: "The approval process has been extremely rigorous, underlining the security and robustness of the master trust framework.
"We will continue to work closely with our key stakeholders before bringing this proposition to the wider UK pensions market. We're committed to helping members achieve their retirement goals within a robust governance framework, and offer employers a solution to managing their pension obligations."
While the scheme was judged by the same standards as all master trusts that existed prior to the authorisation regime being launched, it will have faced a lower authorisation fee.
The latest master trusts to have been authorised include Salvus Master Trust and the Financial Conduct Authority Pension Plan.
Other recent approvals include the Combined Nuclear Pension Plan, Oxford Staff Pension Scheme, among other key players in the market including Now Pensions, Scottish Widows, Nest, Aegon Master Trust and Ensign Retirement Plan.
Also last month, SuperTrust UK announced that it voluntarily decided to withdraw from the market.
TPR's final market update published after the regime concluded, revealed that the master trust market now represents 16 million memberships and holds more than £36bn in assets.
