LifeSight, the master trust offered by Willis Towers Watson, has confirmed it is the provider that has filed the sole application for authorisation that TPR had received by the end of October 2018.
The number of recorded master trusts in the market has fluctuated slightly as trustees have refined their understanding of whether schemes meet the statutory definition of a master trust as provided for in legislation.
TPR says it expects the remaining 53 master trust schemes to either apply for authorisation or trigger their exit from the market in the coming months and anticipates more schemes will choose to leave the market before the authorisation window closes on 31 March next year.
LifeSight managing director Fiona Matthews says: “The news that we are the only master trust to have reached this stage reflects that this has been a tough process that takes time to get right. We worked very closely with the Regulator to make sure that our application covered all the areas that are required and the readiness review process was really useful in helping us finesse our application.
“One of the areas that may have helped LifeSight is that since inception it has always had a fully independent trustee board consisting of five members each with a diverse range of skills and experience. This provides a very strong governance framework to protect members’ interests and is something that the Regulator wants to see clearly demonstrated in all applications. For those schemes that need to make broader changes to their controls or operating model in order to meet the requirements, they will no doubt be taking great care to make sure they meet the Regulator’s expectations before submitting.”