JPMorgan has taken a minority stake in UK workplace pension provider Smart Pension.
The investment by the asset management arm of the big Wall Street bank comes just months after Smart Pension won an international competitive tender to deliver a pensions technology platform for New Ireland Assurance, one of Ireland’s leading life insurance, pensions and investment businesses.
JPMorgan's stake in the four-year old firm forms part of a strategic placement funding round, bringing total capital raised to date to £50 million. Europe’s largest asset manager Legal & General Investment Management took a minority stake in the digital pension platform in 2016.
Anne Lester, global head of retirement solutions, JPMorgan Asset Management, will take a non-executive seat on the Smart board. She says: “We are investing in pensions and savings solutions and technology capabilities to help investors achieve better financial outcomes. Smart Pension has demonstrated how financial technology can have a positive impact by making it easier both for people to save for retirement and for companies to offer pension plans to their employees.”