Five reasons to choose Zurich as your Master Trust provider

What is a Master Trust? 

A Master Trust is a company pension scheme that pools multiple employers under one umbrella or “master” trust deed. While each employer has its own personalised ‘section’ within the master trust, they all benefit from the shared structure. The Zurich Master Trust is one of the largest in Ireland, managing €9.1bn in assets as of July 2026.*

Why are companies switching to Master Trusts? 

Over the past few years,  most employers have moved away from traditional single trust-based or standalone pension schemes to Master Trusts. Here’s why: 

• Compliance costs: New rules introduced under the IORP II Directive added extra compliance requirements and costs. For many employers, they simply found it too expensive, complicated, and time-consuming to keep running their own standalone scheme.
• Auto-enrolment: Ireland’s new auto-enrolment system, My Future Fund, introduced in January, spurred many businesses to revisit, rethink, and ultimately upgrade their pension structures.

From speaking to employers, we know that they want solutions that are easy to manage, cost-effective, and beneficial for their staff. That’s where the Zurich Master Trust shines. 

Why choose the Zurich Master Trust? 

Companies are choosing the Zurich Master Trust for: 

• Strong governance and oversight.
• Clear, active communication with members.
• Easy-to-handle administration.
• Investment performance.

The Zurich Master Trust helps employers meet their responsibilities while giving their staff a solid, well-managed pension. 

A fully wrapped pension solution

The Zurich Master Trust gives employers and scheme members the same benefits they had under their previous standalone scheme. The key difference? Employers don’t have to deal with the regulatory and governance hassles of standalone trusts anymore. This is a major plus, the compliance burden was becoming too erroneous for companies, so moving to a master trust was the ideal solution.

Zurich Ireland Master Trustee DAC (ZIMT) handles trustee services for the Zurich Master Trust. The ZIMT board brings together a well-rounded mix of expertise, experience, and independent oversight to make sure the Zurich Master Trust runs smoothly. 

Market-leading investment performance

At Zurich, we focus on delivering strong investment performance that creates real value for members. That’s why so many companies are choosing the Zurich Master Trust.

Here’s why it matters:

• Better investment performance leads to better retirement outcomes for members.
• When it comes to pensions, Zurich Life has one of the best managed fund returns in Ireland over the last twenty years.**
• Over time, this consistent outperformance can significantly grow individual pension funds, making a real difference at retirement.

Engaging with employees

We know how important it is for employees to understand their pensions. After all, a pension is a major benefit that your company provides. That’s why we help employers explain the value of retirement savings to their team.

Here’s how we engage:

• Digital tools like our online portal provide 24/7 access to pension details – just like people expect from online banking.
• Printed materials and face-to-face interactions give employees a clear picture of their pension and retirement planning.
• Our Client Relationship Managers run tailored programs like workplace presentations, team briefings, seminars, and awareness campaigns.

Streamlined administration

Managing a pension scheme shouldn’t be complicated. That’s why we’ve invested in digital tools to make it easier.

Here’s what we provide:

• The Zurich Employer Portal, which puts all pension information in one place.
• Streamlined processes to ensure pension schemes run smoothly and efficiently.

Decades of experience you can trust

When you choose the Zurich Master Trust, you’re backed by over 40 years of expertise in the Irish pensions market.

• We’re here to help with everything from trusteeship to investment management, onboarding, administration, and contribution collection.
• Employers can trust that their employee pension benefits are in expert hands.

To learn more about Corporate Pensions from Zurich visit zurichcorporate.ie

Sources:

*Zurich Life, September 2026

**7.5% Annualised returns over 20 years as of 31 August 2026; independent survey,  Rubicon Investment Consulting Limited.