Hargreaves Lansdown announces major investment and partnership with Keystone to grow its Workplace business

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has announced a major multi-phase technology partnership with Keystone in its Workplace business. The multi-million pound investment will positively transform the employer administration experience and simultaneously facilitate the ability for their employees to access payroll cash savings accounts, a general investment account and HL’s ISA range – all alongside an HL or third party provided Workplace Pension. 

This investment follows the transition of HL into private ownership in March 2025 and its renewed focus on growth and transformation to deliver even more for clients. The investment signifies the enthusiasm and commitment to growing the £9bn+ AuA Workplace distribution channel as befitting HL’s overall £172bn savings and investment scale and credibility. The scale of ambition reflects HL’s willingness to continue to compete in the Workplace market. 

Keystone is a cloud-native long term savings platform built and supported by industry and technology experts. The platform provides all the infrastructure needed to deliver modern, digital savings solutions, increasing saver engagement for governments and financial services partners around the world. Our partnerships enable clients to capitalise on growth opportunities, such as the wave of change currently transforming the $62 trillion AUM global pensions sector.

Keystone’s growth is driven by the accelerating global demand for modern, digital retirement savings technology. The platform is already powering large-scale systems that millions of savers depend on every day. These include an award-winning partnership with one of Ireland’s most well-known financial services institutions, pooled retirement solutions rolled out nationally across the US and various deployments in the Middle East. The platform powers Smart Pension, the UK’s master trust serving 2m savers and 100,000 employers. 

Richard Flint, CEO of Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 
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‍“We are excited to announce this technology partnership with Keystone, which will transform the client experience in our Workplace offering. This is part of our renewed ambition and investment in HL Workplace and we look forward to sharing further details in the months ahead.

HL Workplace plays an important role in the market, offering greater choice, flexibility and financial wellbeing support than many other options, which we know results in significantly higher levels of engagement and investing outside of the default.

This is a pivotal and exciting time for significant innovation across the sector and we see ourselves at the forefront of that innovation.  We look forward to  bringing a ‘next generation’ HL Workplace to significantly more UK employers and their employees through 2026 and beyond.

This partnership will bring even greater client experience, opening up the full range of HL products at the click of a button. We’re also pleased that our new Chief Product Officer, Doug Abbott, who joins in March will be leading our ongoing innovation in this area.

It also reflects the ambition and enthusiasm we have for the growth potential of this segment of HL’s business.”

Stephen Lefley, Director of HL’s Workplace Solutions, said:

“We see consistently compelling advocacy from our employer and employee clients based on the strength of our proposition, and are grateful for the ongoing support and counsel we receive from our EBC and corporate adviser partners.

Whether they be innovative start-ups, or the largest employers wanting to replace or augment their current provision, our technology partnership with Keystone will enable an all-encompassing, seamless workplace proposition previously only imaginable. In light of draft regulation, it is particularly important that choice, flexibility and truly client-led options continue to be available, and we’re pleased our EBCs and many employer clients see and want the vital role HL play in the market.

When HL is selected by an employer, the result goes far beyond basic workplace pension provision. Increasingly employees are looking to their employers to help them take control and achieve short, medium, as well as long term, financial resilience. The HL workplace offering inspires the lowest earners to save sensibly, whilst being equally as applicable to higher earners struggling to allocate what is entitled to them above annual allowances. Employers get that capability when they choose HL and now we’ll have the ability to offer the very best of HL products and services, conveniently using a single and most modern technology platform.

Keystone already powers Smart Pension’s Master Trust so we know it is proven as being scalable and credible from day one. Customer research initiated in 2024 has helped us to refine our strategy and design, powered by the flexibility of the Keystone platform which enabled us to make the next generation of workplace pensions and savings a reality in 2026.”

Andy Marshall, CCO of Keystone, said: 
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‍“Launching this partnership with Hargreaves Lansdown is an exciting step forward for Keystone, demonstrating the strength and flexibility of our platform as well as the continued appetite for innovative retirement technology in the UK and internationally. We’re delighted to be working with the team at Hargreaves Lansdown, who share our commitment to delivering better financial outcomes for savers.

This partnership also represents a major milestone for us as it marks our expansion beyond core pension technology, showing the platform’s scale and adaptability. It builds upon Keystone’s success and journey to date, and highlights the immense opportunity that lies ahead for us. We look forward to working closely with Hargreaves Lansdown in the years to come”.

About Keystone

Keystone is part of the Smart Group, a global savings and investments technology business on a mission to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing across generations, worldwide. As the Group’s retirement technology specialist, Keystone focuses on building intelligent, scalable solutions that support better financial outcomes for individuals, employers and providers globally. Keystone’s platform already powers market-leading products serving millions of savers, including our own retirement solution in the UK, Smart Pension.

About Hargreaves Lansdown 

Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK’s largest savings and investment platform for private investors and over two million clients trust us with £172.7 billion (as at 30 June 2025).

Our purpose is to make it easy to save and invest for a better future and help people build their financial resilience over the long-term. We provide a lifelong, secure home for people’s savings and investments that offers great value and an incredible service, making their financial life easy.

Doug Abbott will join Hargreaves Lansdown in March 2026 as Chief Product Officer, with responsibility for HL’s suite of financial products as well as offerings such as Workplace. He will bring dedicated leadership in a rapidly evolving market to maximise new opportunities across a broad range of products for HL clients on the platform across wrappers, asset classes and providers. This will include HLFM’s fund range, retirement, ETFs and innovative solutions in addition to further opportunities in private markets and beyond. 

Abbott will join HL from Vanguard, where he is Head of the UK Client Group following 15 years at Schroders, where he held several senior positions, including Head of UK Wealth, Country Head of South Africa, and Head of UK Investment Trust Sales

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Media Contacts: 

Smart - Alex Nelless, Head of Brand Communications alex.nelless@smart.co 

Hargreaves Lansdown – Lucy Thomas, Corporate Affairs Director lucy.thomas@hl.co.uk