Former pensions minister Guy Opperman is joining Smart as a senior adviser.
This will be an international role, with a focus on Smart’s proprietary retirement technology platform Keystone. Smart says global demand for this platform is growing due to pension reform in many countries.
Opperman served as parliamentary under-secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) between 2017 and 2022, with a focus on pensions and financial inclusion.
As the UK’s longest serving pensions minister, Opperman oversaw significant changes to the UK pension system. In this role he was responsible for the expansion of auto enrolment and master trusts, and for pioneering CDCs .
Smart says Opperman has a “rich understanding” of the pension challenges faced by governments with ageing populations, and deep knowledge of the technical solutions required to solve these issues.
After stepping down as pension minister Opperman also served as minister of state for employment in the DWP and as minister for roads and local transport in the Department for Transport before losing his seat in the last election. Opperman was a Conservative MP for Hexham. Prior to this he spent two decades as a practising barrister.
The appointment follows other recent senior hires within Smart’s commercial and technology departments as well as in advisory capacities.
Smart currently runes the Smart Pension master trust in the UK and globally has around £15bn AUM.
Opperman says Smart offers positive solutions to the retirement savings issues facing governments, employers and individuals worldwide. He adds: “As pension legislation changes around the world, great technology has the ability and scope to deliver better outcomes for individual savers and societies as a whole. I’m looking forward to helping the team grow Smart’s technology, Keystone, where it currently touches 10 million people around the world.”
Smart co-founder and Group CEO Andrew Evans adds: “[Opperman] played a crucial part in the rollout and expansion of auto enrolment in the UK that originally led to the development of our technology, and he understands the scale of the complexities faced by policy-makers and providers alike, in solving the issue of retirement provision globally.”