On the go: Financial advice business Lighthouse Group has decided not to pursue authorisation for its master trust, handing over employers and members to competitor Smart Pension.
Lighthouse ran the Corporate Pensions Trust, which currently has 6,538 active members and more than 500 employers but just £12.5m of assets under management as of November 30 2018.
It has now informed the Pensions Regulator that it will not apply for authorisation under the watchdog's new supervisory regime, and so must close and wind up.
CPT trustees have agreed to make a recommendation to members and employers to transfer both assets and future contributions to Smart's AutoEnrolment.com master trust. The decision was taken after a market review of potential recipients by Lighthouse.
Lighthouse has also named Smart as its preferred master trust provider for its SME clients.
Andrew Evans, CEO and co-founder of Smart, said: “We are delighted to enter into this partnership following an in-depth review by the Lighthouse Group, on behalf of the CPT Trustees. We are impressed with Lighthouse Group’s approach to excellence in client service and care, which will continue."
As providers exit the market and consolidation continues apace, those remaining in the market have been slow to apply for authorisation.
An update from the regulator earlier this month revealed that while 35 schemes have either exited the market or notified the regulator of a triggering event to exit the market, just six have applied for authorisation.
Smart confirmed that it has not yet formally applied for authorisation, but intends to do so before the deadline at the end of March
