HSBC Master Trust has become the first new master trust to be authorised by The Pensions Regulator which has so far focused on authorising existing schemes.

The HSBC scheme has been added to TPR’s list of authorised schemes (see below), bringing the total number of authorised schemes to 38.

New master trusts are subject to the same authorisation criteria as the existing schemes which went through the process in 2019. In total, 37 existing schemes have bee authorised.

The Master Trust schemes so far authorised by TPR.

• Aegon Master Trust
• The Aon MasterTrust
• Aspire Savings Trust
• Atlas Master Trust
• Aviva Master Trust
• The Baptist Pension Scheme
• BCF Pension Trust
• The BlueSky Pension Scheme
• The Carey Workplace Pension Trust
• The Cheviot Pension
• Combined Nuclear Pension Plan
• Creative Pension Trust
• The Crystal Trust
• Ensign Retirement Plan
• FCA Pension Plan
• Fidelity
• HSBC Master Trust
• Industry-Wide Defined Contribution Section (Railways Pension Scheme)
• The ITB Pension Funds
• Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust
• Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust (RAS)
• The Lewis Workplace Pension Trust
• LifeSight
• Mercer Master Trust
• National Employment Savings Trust (NEST)
• National Pension Trust
• NOW: Pensions Trust
• The Pensions Trust (TPT Retirement Solutions)
• The People’s Pension
• The Salvus Master Trust
• Scottish Widows Master Trust
• The SEI Master Trust
• Smart Pension Master Trust
• Standard Life DC Master Trust
• Stanplan A
• Universities Superannuation Scheme
• The University of Oxford Staff Pension Scheme
• Workers Pension Trust

The Pension Schemes Act 2017 introduced the definition of 'master trust'. A master trust is an occupational pension scheme that provides money purchase benefits and is used (or intended to be used) by two or more employers and is not a public service pension scheme. A master trust may also be a group of schemes which provide money purchase benefits.