The pensions large WTW is in talks to purchase the office retirement schemes platform owned by NatWest Group, the FTSE-100 lender.
Sky Information has learnt that WTW – previously generally known as Willis Towers Watson – has emerged because the frontrunner to purchase Cushon from NatWest following an public sale which attracted a number of main trade names.
The worth below negotiation was unclear on Friday.
Cushon manages belongings price £3.7bn, based on the most recent figures supplied by NatWest, which purchased a controlling stake within the enterprise for £144m two years in the past.
The pensions business serves roughly 650,000 members throughout roughly 21,000 employers.
NatWest owns an 85% stake in Cushon, with the rest held by the subsidiary’s administration.
For NatWest, a sale would mirror chief Paul Thwaite‘s willpower to refocus the financial institution – which shed the final vestiges of taxpayer possession earlier this yr – on its core strategic priorities.
These embrace a bank-wide simplification programme and extra lively steadiness sheet and danger administration.
Cushon provides office pension merchandise in addition to a variety of office ISAs, together with Junior ISAs, Lifetime ISAs and Basic Funding Accounts.
Learn extra from Sky Information:
Anglo American faces bloody nose over exec payouts
TGI Fridays’ UK chain up for sale
HSBC chair candidates to pitch to board next week
NatWest’s acquisition of the enterprise was geared toward diversifying its non-interest revenue by providing Cushon’s merchandise to the financial institution’s industrial and enterprise banking clients.
The federal government introduced main pensions reforms this yr geared toward driving larger scale and lowering pointless bureaucratic bills, with a view to outlined contribution schemes managing not less than £25bn in belongings by 2030.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves this week hit salary sacrifice pension schemes with a multibillion pound tax raid, which has prompted uproar throughout the trade.
NatWest and WTW have each been contacted for remark.
