Hargreaves Lansdown bets on Keystone to rebuild its workplace platform

Hargreaves Lansdown  is putting fresh capital behind its Workplace business, announcing a multi phase technology partnership with Keystone aimed at overhauling how employers administer suggest pensions and savings.

The deal follows HL’s move into private ownership earlier this year and reflects a renewed push to grow its £9bn workplace assets base, a small but strategic slice of its broader £172bn platform. Financial terms were not disclosed, though HL described the investment as multi million pound.

Alongside an HL or third party pension, employees will be able to open payroll linked cash savings accounts, general investment accounts, and ISAs within the same system.

Keystone already underpins Smart Pension’s UK master trust, which serves around 2 million savers and 100,000 employers. The platform is also used in large scale pension and retirement programs in the US, Ireland, and the Middle East, positioning it as a proven backbone rather than an early stage experiment.

HL says the partnership is designed to move its Workplace offering beyond basic pension provision, giving employers a broader financial toolkit and employees more flexibility across short, medium, and long term savings. The updated platform is expected to roll out through 2026.

The move also comes ahead of new leadership. Doug Abbott, currently at Vanguard, will join HL as Chief Product Officer in March 2026 and will oversee product development across workplace, retirement, and investments.

For Keystone, the partnership marks an expansion beyond pure pension infrastructure into wider workplace savings and investment products. For HL, it signals a willingness to reinvest in workplace distribution as competition for employer led savings continues to intensify.