On the go: Société Générale has announced the bulk transfer of its trust-based scheme into the Aegon Master Trust, a move it says will “enhance the savings journey” of 4,500 members.
The transfer, handled by Isio, took place across three tranches over a period of two weeks, and saw £385m of existing pension benefits cross from Société Générale’s scheme to the Aegon Master Trust, which gained authorisation in 2019 with £1.5bn in assets under management.
Graham Clark, head of benefits at Société Générale, said: “Pensions are an important component of employee remuneration, and so at the heart of this process was our desire to make our employees’ pensions more accessible and interactive.”
Aegon launched an app for its master trust members last year to help them make pension transactions, and Clark said this was “one of the key aspects that attracted us to the Aegon Master Trust”.
“The changes have been well received and have helped put pensions front of mind among employees,” he said.
Linda Whorlow, managing director of workplace business at Aegon, added: “Over the past few years, we’ve been investing heavily in our master trust proposition to deliver market-leading personalised member engagement tools, along with the development of our financial education, guidance and advice services to help members on their journey towards a secure retirement.
“Another key theme for us and Société Générale is a robust and well-governed investment offer and our LifePath default fund has seen a significant increase in the proportion of funds invested in environmental, social and governance strategies. This is an area we are very passionate about and high on our agenda with all our partners.”
Richard Birkin, head of DC solutions at Isio and lead adviser to Société Générale, pointed to the “rapidly changing regulatory regime” as making single-employer, own-trust arrangements “less feasible”.
“Over the past five years, the defined contribution market has shifted at pace away from the sole employer model and propositions continue to evolve almost on a daily basis,” he said.
“It’s encouraging to see the strengthening of member journeys, whether that be through engagement touch points or reshaped default strategies.”
