LONDON (5 October) 2015 – Aon Hewitt, the global talent, retirement and health solutions business of Aon plc (NYSE:AON), has announced the launch of The Aon MasterTrust, completing the company’s line up of services for the UK’s defined contribution (DC) market.

The Aon MasterTrust will be targeted at occupational trust-based pension schemes – initially of a minimum size of £20 million – which no longer want to deal with the burden of today’s regulatory compliance but who also want to offer their members a modern, professionally managed scheme with a competitive drawdown solution.

Sophia Singleton, partner and head of DC Consulting at Aon Hewitt, said:
“Running a pension scheme is not getting any easier – in fact, it’s getting increasingly onerous, complex and costly. With the launch of The Aon MasterTrust we have aimed to deliver a solution which offers employers the best of both worlds – a trust-based approach which is outsourced to experts. We are also fulfilling an increasing demand; responses to our upcoming DC survey showed that almost 10% of schemes expect to convert to a master trust over the next five years.

“By launching Aon MasterTrust we are also completing Aon’s range of DC services – advisory, investment only, bundled services, contract-based and now a master trust. The new pension freedoms have also increased demand for decumulation solutions so now is the perfect time to launch our product which includes in-built drawdown.”

Sangita Chawla-Jopling, partner and head of DC Product at Aon Hewitt, said:
“We believe the benefits of the master trust approach are considerable.  As a multi-employer scheme, The Aon MasterTrust allows schemes to reduce their governance burden while retaining strong and independent management. It also allows employers to shed the responsibility of legacy trust schemes without relying on member consent, but offers the opportunity to deliver a better employee experience and better value for members, courtesy of the master trust’s scale.”

Key features of the Aon MasterTrust
•    A consolidated governance model to reduce costs and risk while retaining management and oversight by an independent professional trustee board
•    Service delivered by  teams of experts covering investment, administration and communication
•    Leading edge investment options, backed by global DC investment expertise
•    A fully packaged solution delivering a better employee experience through strong member engagement and customer service, market leading financial aggregation tools and superior investment solutions
•    Easier retirement decision making for employees through a built in drawdown option and retirement support
•    Ability to consolidate legacy assets
•    Demonstrable value for money for members through greater scale
•    Provides future proofing through ongoing innovation and development
•    A fully automated auto-enrolment solution

Experienced trustee board
The Aon MasterTrust will benefit from a board of trustees which is independent from Aon and which will oversee all participants’ sections of the master trust.

To achieve this, Aon has brought together a three person trustee board of the highest quality and experience; chairman Roger Mattingly of Pan Trustees will act as chairman, alongside, Nicki Mortimer of Capital Cranfield and Kim Nash of PTL. Their key purpose is to ensure the best interests of scheme members by working with the Aon MasterTrust team and providing an independent view of the master trust’s operation.

Roger Mattingly, chairman of The Aon MasterTrust trustee board, said:
“The Aon MasterTrust will provide an excellent alternative approach for many pension schemes seeking the economies and benefits of scale, as well as relief from the increased weight of regulation borne by today’s schemes.

“As trustees we will ensure that members’ interests are looked after and that they can be confident their views are pursued without fear or favour. We will be an independent body but will work closely with the Aon team to ensure the best results for all scheme members.”

Sangita Chawla-Jopling said:
“We wanted The Aon MasterTrust trustee board to be composed of high calibre independent professionals, so we are very pleased that Roger Mattingly, Nicki Mortimer and Kim Nash have agreed to take on the roles. I am confident that they will provide the knowledge and the independent approach that will challenge us to provide the best possible service.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

What is a master trust?
A master trust is a multi-employer occupational pension scheme where each employer has its own section within the master trust arrangement. Employers access the master trust via a participation deed. There is one legal trust and therefore one trustee board.  The trustee retains decision-making independence for each section on the provision of services, eg funds, administration features, communication tools.  The decisions over benefit and contribution levels typically reside with the employer.

The Aon MasterTrust Trustee Board – biographies

Roger Mattingly
Roger Mattingly is managing director of Pan Trustees, which he joined in 2013. He has worked in the pension industry for over 30 years, having previously held roles at JLT and HSBC Actuaries & Consultants.

As a well-known figure in UK pensions, Roger has been on the main Council of the Society of Pension Consultants (the SPC) for over 10 years and is its Immediate Past President. He has been a member of many industry working groups including the Pensions Regulator`s Stakeholder Advisory Panel, a number of DWP Policy Engagement Groups, the Incentive Exercises Monitoring Board, the City UK`s Pensions Steering Group and the House of Commons Pensions Leadership Group.  Roger is chair of the Incentive Exercises Industry Forum, of the NAPF’s Multi‐Employer Committee and sits on the NAPF’s Multi‐Employer DC Committee.

Nicki Mortimer
Nicki Mortimer is a client director with Capital Cranfield Pension Trustees Limited. Previously in roles at Astra-Zeneca and Balfour Beatty, Nicki is a highly experienced pensions professional with a wide variety of strategic, consulting and coaching skills that she uses to provide governance support to trustees and boards across the pensions spectrum. She has worked with most of the major consulting and law firms during her career.

Nicki has a legal background, is a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute where she has been
an examiner, and is a regular industry speaker/presenter

Kim Nash
Kim Nash joined PTL Trustees as a client director in 2012. A qualified actuary, Kim previously worked at Towers Watson as a benefits consultant.

Kim is a trustee for 12 client schemes at PTL and is chair of two established DC master trusts, as well as being chair of a new Independent Governance Committee (IGC) for a major DC provider, and a member of the PTL Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA). She therefore has considerable experience in matters directly relating to IGCs and master trust arrangements, as well has having extensive experience of bringing diverse boards together to work effectively.

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global provider of risk management, insurance brokerage and
reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more
than 69,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via
innovative risk and people solutions. For further information on our capabilities and to learn how we
empower results for clients, please visit: http://aon.mediaroom.com/

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Media Contact
For further information please contact:
Colin Mayes                                           Marina Jane Sanchez
Aon Hewitt                                              CNC
01372 733689                                         020 3219 8811
colin.mayes@aonhewitt.com                   marina.jane-sanchez@cnc-communications.com