Global retirement technology provider Smart has selected Melbourne as the home of its new Australian headquarters - making the company’s world-leading services available to Australia’s pensioners, and supporting jobs and innovation in the Victorian capital.
The announcement follows the recent introduction of the Retirement Income Covenant in Australia, which seeks to provide pension funds with greater flexibility in designing their retirement income strategies.
Smart’s technology powers the retirement savings of more than a million savers across the world, including in the Middle East in partnership with Zurich, in Ireland with the Bank of Ireland, in the UK through Smart Pension and in partnership with Barclays business banking, and across the USA.
Backed by investors including J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Legal & General Investment Management, Link Group, Chrysalis Investments, and Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, Smart’s technology has transformed the ease of saving for retirement and taking retirement income. Its technology includes apps, web access, Alexa and Google Home skills, making it as easy to manage retirement funds as it is to shop or bank online.
Andrew Evans and Will Wynne, co-founders of Smart commented:
“We’re really excited to bring our technology to bear in Australia, creating jobs and bringing further innovation to one of the most mature retirement ecosystems on the planet. Our tech is based on over a million hours of research and development. As part of that, we recently spoke to over 2,000 Australians and found that only 22% of those aged 55 and older feel like they understand their options at retirement. That’s where we come in. Our AI and guided navigation tools can be accessed by people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, simplifying retirement savings and opening up huge amounts of value to people. Melbourne’s rapidly growing fintech ecosystem makes it the natural choice for Smart, and we are extremely grateful to the State of Victoria for their support.”
Tim Pallas, Victorian Minister for Economic Development, added:
“This arrival of Smart shows that Victoria is a productive ground for major global companies, and we’ll continue to create the conditions that allow businesses to thrive and deliver more jobs.”