Our vision
Discover our vision for building a better retirement for everyone and why this ambition drives us every day.
Find out how we became a leading online pension provider and discover some of the biggest highlights along the way.
PensionBee was born
Our story began when our CEO, Romi Savova, tried to move her old workplace pension.
She faced great difficulty in switching pension providers using traditional platforms and financial advisers, encountering archaic systems, excessive fees, and complex paperwork.
After this experience, she decided there had to be a better way and started working on creating PensionBee - alongside our Co-Founder and CTO, Jonathan Lister Parsons.
Moved into our first office
Romi and Jonathan both quit their jobs and started building PensionBee - an online pension provider that puts our customers first.
Our first employees joined the company and we moved into our first office on Borough High Street.
The small but talented team began working on the BeeHive and creating the PensionBee brand.
Romi was our first customer, transferring her own pension to the newly founded PensionBee.
PensionBee went live
We launched our product with plans from BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors, helping savers combine their old pensions.
Our innovation gained acclaim, as we won the Harvard Business School New Venture Competition, followed by a Financial Times Future of Fintech Award.
Mark Wood CBE, former Chief Executive of Prudential UK, joined as our Chair.
We ended 2016 with around 1k Invested Customers and £19m in Assets under Administration (AUA).
Innovation and investment
We broadened our mix of customers with new product innovations. We introduced our drawdown service, enabling customers to make withdrawals easily online. We also launched our first socially responsible plan, providing our savers with a climate conscious way of investing.
At the Money Age Awards we were recognised for Technological Innovation in Consumer Finance, while Romi also won Entrepreneur of the Year at the Women in IT Excellence Awards.
Towards the end of the year, State Street Global Advisors took a minority stake in PensionBee ahead of another year of growth.
We ended 2017 with around 5k Invested Customers and £108m in Assets under Administration (AUA).
The app was launched
Our app went live, giving customers the power to manage their pensions from their smartphones.
With the introduction of Open Banking, we also became the first pension provider to integrate with a number of banking and money management apps.
These product developments saw us win Digital Platform of the Year at Schroders UK Platform Awards, and in further recognition of our growing stature the Association of British Insurers announced us as their third platform member, joining Hargreaves Landown and Vanguard.
The Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, Guy Opperman, visited PensionBee to discuss the latest technological advances in the pensions industry and the future of the sector.
We ended 2018 with around 17k Invested Customers and £328m in Assets under Administration (AUA).
We received industry acclaim
We became the first pension provider to adopt the Simpler Annual Benefit Statement, winning acclaim from both the government and pensions industry.
We introduced two new pension plans, 4Plus and Preserve, to broaden our appeal amongst customers nearing retirement, as well as a Shariah-compliant plan.
Michelle Cracknell CBE also joined the PensionBee Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director, bringing over 30 years' experience from the pensions and retirement planning industry.
We won a total of seven awards for innovation, entrepreneurialism and diversity in our workforce - as our team grew to over 100 employees.
We ended 2019 with around 38k Invested Customers and £745m in Assets under Administration (AUA).
£1bn in AUA
Despite the incredible challenges COVID-19 brought, we experienced our most successful year yet, with our total AUA exceeding £1bn.
We campaigned to show the rest of the pensions industry that there was demand for a fossil fuel free pension, based on customers’ feedback. We succeeded with commitments of >£100m and launched the Fossil Fuel Free Plan in partnership with Legal & General.
Mary Francis CBE joined our Board as a Senior Non-Executive Director.
We won praise for our high levels of innovation and customer service, as well as our industry-leading workplace diversity, when we were named 'Pension Provider of the Year' (UK Pensions Awards).
We ended 2020 with around 69k Invested Customers and £1.4bn in Assets under Administration (AUA).
Became a publicly listed company
We became a publicly listed company with an IPO on the High Growth Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange ('LSE'), also giving our customers access to buy shares.
This milestone marked seven years of hard work and allowed us to fuel further expansion and innovation, so that we could help even more people look forward to a happy retirement.
Adding to our award wins, we were recognised as 'Pensions Provider of the Year' at the PensionAge Awards 2021. For our inclusive and accessible website design, PensionBee was awarded the Internet Crystal Mark and Plain English App Mark.
Plus, Romi was featured in the 2021 'Global Top 100 Executive Allies' for demonstrating support for others, as we continued to champion diversity.
We ended 2021 with around 117k Invested Customers and £2.6bn in Assets under Administration (AUA).
Became a Premium Listed Company
We transitioned to the Premium Segment of the London Stock Exchange's Main Market, underscoring our commitment to upholding the highest standards of corporate governance and dedication to achieving our growth ambitions and increasing liquidity.
Lara Oyesanya joined our Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director.
Our 'Believe in the Bee' brand campaign launched with an ad featuring Vitaly Janelt, Yoane Wissa and Christian Nørgaard from Brentford FC and a cameo from our CEO, Romi Savova – plus our distinctive new animated honey bee.
We were proud to receive five Boring Money Best Buy Awards, including 'Best for Customer Service', and to be accredited with Good With Money's 'Good Egg' mark.
PensionBee won a further 20 awards, including 'FinTech of the Year' at the UK FinTech Awards, 'Financial Inclusion' at the FSTech Awards, and 'Employer of the Year' at the FT Adviser Diversity in Finance Awards for the third consecutive year.
We ended 2023 with around 183k Invested Customers and &3bn in Assets under Administration (AUA).
PensionBee joined FTSE All Share and FTSE4Good indices
Having joined the Premium Segment of the London Stock Exchange's Main Market, we became eligible to become part of the FTSE, joining the FTSE All Share and the FTSE4Good indices, which supported a broader ownership of the Company’s shares.
At the beginning of the year, we launched our new Impact Plan, designed in collaboration with our customers and money manager, BlackRock. The Impact Plan's an innovative pension plan which invests exclusively in companies already working to help solve the world's great social and environmental problems, whilst also helping people save for their retirement.
Our Pension Confident Podcast reached more than 50k downloads across all major podcast platforms since its launch in 2021. In November, we were proud to win two silver awards for ‘Best Series’ and 'Best Branded Segment or Podcast' at The Lovie Awards.
We also became a member of the Silver Marketing Association, which promotes ethical marketing to the 'silver' sector in the UK.
At the Boring Money Best Buy Awards, we were recognised as an industry-leading pension provider with three awards: Best Buy Pension, Best for Beginners, and Best for Low-Cost Pensions <£50k.
We ended 2023 with around 229k Invested Customers and £4.4bn in Assets under Administration (AUA).
Learn more about PensionBee
Discover what made us a leading online pension provider.
Our values
Our five core values guide everything we do at PensionBee, from how we treat our customers to how we build our product.