On the go: KPMG’s former pensions advisory business has relaunched as Isio following its sale to a private equity backer, with the new company looking to grow its consolidation offering and improve the industry’s use of technology.
Professional services giant KPMG sold its pensions business in late 2019 in a management buyout by the practice’s 20 partners, backed by private equity house Exponent.
The new company retains its circa 1,000 clients and 500 staff, advising both sponsors and trustees of defined benefit pension schemes alongside a DB outsourcing business and defined contribution consulting.
The business will be run by chief executive Andrew Coles, who said its separation from KPMG will free it from the conflicts of interest, where companies employ or might employ KPMG’s audit business, allowing it to focus on long-term client relationships.
Mr Coles said discussions between the pensions team and the wider company concluded “that allowing Isio to be a separate business meant it could be whole-of-market”.
A key priority for the business will be its Enplan platform, which provides an outsourced package of DB trusteeship and administration and manages just more than £1bn in assets.
Mr Coles said the platform would consider extending its services into the full consolidation market currently occupied by start-ups Clara Pensions and the Pension SuperFund, but said that this market would need renewed support from the Pensions Regulator and the Department for Work and Pensions to become a viable proposition for investment.
“I think it’s great that we’ve seen innovation and a financial consolidator. I can see circumstances where it’s right, although right now we haven’t seen the regulatory climate for transactions to actually happen,” he said.
In DC, the business will focus on helping clients and their staff to better plan their finances in a holistic manner, and focus on educational initiatives to improve member decisions.
“We do wonder whether it’s right that such a significant proportion of members are having their assets invested through default funds,” said Mr Coles.
Improving member experience will demand better use of technology across the pensions sector, and Mr Coles branded the industry a laggard in its use of digital services.
“I’m not convinced that the pensions industry... has really moved fast enough and embraced the technological opportunities that are around,” he said.
Where data is still held in physical form, “we need to digitise that and provide online access to real-time information”.
