Professional trustee appointment growth slows to 8% as market matures – WTW

Professional trustee appointments grew by 8% over the past year, slowing from 11% growth the previous year, according to a survey from WTW. 

The total number of appointments reached 2,711 across the industry. 

Growth is expected to slow further to around 5% over the next three years as the market matures and more pension schemes move towards buyout and wind up due to improved funding.

Sole trustee appointments also rose by 8%, compared to 14% the year before, with future growth estimates at about 6% over the next three years. 

Sole trustees now make up about half of all professional trustee appointments, mainly for small schemes, where they account for nearly 70% of appointments to schemes with assets under £25m. 

For large schemes with assets over £1bn, 94% of appointments go to a trustee board, either as trustee chair or co-trustee.

Mustafa Bharmal, professional trustee group director at WTW, said: “The Professional Trustee market is still growing at a very healthy rate. 

“Following a flurry of PT appointments over the past few years, rates of growth have started to stabilise as around half of all defined benefit pension schemes now have a Professional Trustee in place.”