Talk Money Week - Moneyhub features to help your customers #TalkMoney

November 6-10th 2023 was Talk Money Week - an initiative from the Money and Pensions Service that seeks to help people have more open conversations about their money - from pocket money to pensions - and continue these conversations all year round.

Money is a deeply emotive topic, and the anxiety, guilt or shame someone might feel around their finances may mean they find it difficult to talk about. Yet research has shown that people who do talk about money make better, less risky financial decisions, feel less anxious and can help their children form good lifetime money habits.

For the course of Talk Money Week we focused on one Moneyhub feature each day, that can help you to help your customers start talking money. Here’s the round up:

1. Budgets, forecasts and spend analysis

2. Personal Debt Manager

3. Emergency Cash Builder

4. Benefits Finder

5. Pensions Finder

Budgets, forecasts and spend analysis

• Why is it important?

  Understanding how much money is coming in, and where it is going out is the first fundamental step towards financial wellness.

  One of the most significant sources of financial stress is not knowing if there'll be enough money left at the end of the month. As cash usage continues to decline the increased use of 'Digital' money means its harder than ever to keep track of direct debits, BNPL repayments, ad hoc bills and spending on debit, credit cards or payment services like Paypal.

• How does it work?

  Our budgeting, forecasting and analysis features make getting those healthy foundations in place as easy and intuitive as possible.

  Users are encouraged to connect all of their spending accounts to give them a complete picture of their finances. Our technology can then identify income, regular bills and payments and the spending and income analysis helps build a very tangible, visual representation of what’s going where.

  Every transaction is categorised so that the customer can create and set spending budgets for things such as fuel for the car, the weekly food shop, clothes for the kids or home repairs. No matter what account or card is used to make a payment the category is identified and allocated to the correct budget so they can see where their money goes and, when they are in danger of going over budget and take avoiding action.

Personal Debt Manager

• Why is it important?

  UK adults owe £1.9t in personal debt. Failing to keep on top of debt can impact health, wellbeing and the ability to work.

  A study from the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that half of all adults with a debt problem also live with mental ill-health. This ranged from a consistent feeling of anxiety and low mood to a diagnosed mental health condition.

  Debt can be a considerable burden, made worse by dealing with it alone.

  Worrying about debt can affect sleep. Losing out on a good night’s sleep can not only affect mood and energy levels, it can also affect someone’s ability to work or have good relationships with friends and family.

  All of these things in turn can further add to debt problems.

• How does it work?

  Our Personal Debt Manager gives your customers a suite of tools to help them check, manage and adjust their spending so they stay in control of their income and outgoings.

  We know that people get better outcomes when when:

  • They regularly check income, outgoing and bank statements, and;

  • Adjust spending on non-essentials when money is tight

  Your customers can use Personal Debt Manager to connect all of their bank accounts, credit cards and loans in one place so they can check each and every transaction in real time. They’ll benefit from a range of tools, including Personal Balance Alerts, Spending Analysis, Regular Payments and Rent Recognition.

  By utilising these tools, your customers can:

  • Gain sight of where their money is going and where changes need to be made and set realistic budgets

  • Reduce the risk of missing a repayment as they have a full list of upcoming payments to help them plan in advance

  • Even build their credit score through Rent Recognition

  Eliminating debt is about more than the numbers - debt relief brings reduced stress and anxiety, improvements in cognitive functioning and changes in decision making. When someone clears their debt, it’s a significant life event.

  With Moneyhub, you can help them get there.

Emergency Cash Builder

• Why is it important?

  Be it building an emergency cash fund for whatever life throws at them, or saving towards that all important first home, our technology can help you become a significant force for financial good in your customers’ lives.

  With the Financial Conduct Authority reporting that nearly 13m UK adults have little capacity to withstand a financial shock, helping your customers build an emergency fund to weather a financial storm, or simply for a rainy day, can improve financial outcomes, build trust in your brand and deepen the relationship they have with your firm.

• How does it work?

  Moneyhub’s Emergency Cash Builder makes it easy for your customers to increase their financial resilience in three simple steps:

  1. Personalise: Choose a connected account in which the emergency cash fund will be created and give the fund a name. It could be simply an ‘emergency fund’, or something more personal, such as ‘my holiday fund’ or ‘Mum’s 60th birthday’. Customers can create multiple funds for different goals. After naming their emergency cash fund the customer will be prompted to set a target amount and time period over which they wish to save.

  2. Monitor: Each Emergency Cash Fund will automatically appear in the customer’s personal dashboard. They’ll see how much they’ve saved in total and how close they are to achieving their goal.

  3. Celebrate: Moneyhub’s dashboard view provides a visual measure of success. Overlay a nudge in the app or any other communications channel to help the customer celebrate their achievement and provide them with an onward journey.

  Customers can transfer money to their Emergency Cash Builder fund using their bank’s banking app or by creating a standing order. Or if enabled, they can use Moneyhub Open Banking payments technology to make a payment from within a Personal Financial Management app.

  When people have some savings to fall back on, their increased financial resilience leads to reduced stress and anxiety, a greater sense of choice and control and even higher self esteem. With Moneyhub, you can help your customers get there.

Benefits Finder

• Why is it important?

  According to Policy in Practice around 8 Million households in the UK are missing out on £16-19 billion in benefits every year. This works out at around £5k per household, every year - a potential lifeline for low-income households.

  In 2021, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Welfare at a Social Distance found that the most common reason why people miss their benefits is that they are unaware of the welfare benefits they are entitled to or assume that they are not eligible

  The main reasons people are not taking up benefits they are aware of:

  • Group A: 42% Wrongly assume they are not entitled

  • Group B: 39% Unaware of the range of benefits they could be entitled to

  • Group C: 19% Don’t apply because they are overwhelmed by the process, or find the stigma difficult to deal with

• How does it work?

  Description text goes hereWe’ve embedded InBest’s Benefits Finder into our Personal Financial Management solution, enabling people to identify benefits they may be eligible for based on their financial data.

  The benefits calculator can help those in Groups A and B to find out which benefits they are eligible for and the boost to their income they could receive.

  By incorporating the calculator into a financial management app, we can better serve Group C through personalised nudges and support articles, to help guide them through their benefits applications.

Pensions Finder

• Why is it important?

  It’s no secret that the pensions industry has an engagement problem. In 2020 the Financial Conduct Authority found 59% of adults contributing to a workplace DC pension have low, or very low pension engagement.

  Low levels of engagement correspond with low levels of understanding around pensions, and people are missing out on a better retirement.

  In fact, one in five pensioners is now living in relative poverty in the UK, with the number of financially insecure pensioners soaring to more than two million.

  With the government’s work on the Pensions Dashboard Programme stalled, our Pension Finder offers an interim tool to help people track down, understand and engage with their pensions.

• How does it work?

  Pension Finder allows people to build a full picture of their pension and make crucial retirement plans by connecting the Moneyhub app with their LinkedIn profile.

  It is designed to help pension managers, workplace pension providers, trustees or advisors help their customers engage with their pensions, encourage them to save more cash for retirement and understand the long-term implications of their current financial situation and savings strategies.

  Users can combine the pensions information found by analysing their career history with other information aggregated and calculated by Moneyhub in tools such as Moneyhub’s Lifestyle Modeller, which predicts people’s financial situation after a major event such as retirement to set lifestyle expectations.

  When people have a complete financial picture they are able to make better decisions or get the help they need. The Pension Finder seeks to make financial admin easier and ultimately encourage savers to take positive steps to secure their future financial wellness.

You can offer your customers any of these features as part of our fully customisable white label financial management app, or incorporate them into your own offering as widgets.

Employers: Now is the time to develop pension engagement and financial wellbeing strategies

As Pensions Awareness Week 2023 draws to a close, we’re reminded that  59% of adults contributing to a workplace DC pension have low, or very low pension engagement. Now is clearly the time for employers to be developing plans on how to better support staff with their retirement planning.

Low engagement isn’t good news for pension providers, individuals, nor the companies that employ them.

The benefits of high levels of pension engagement

Leading the charge in boosting pension awareness is Moneyhub partner Standard Life. Standard Life’s Retirement Voice 2022 found that people who dedicate time to pension planning, are reaping benefits to their wider financial wellbeing:

• They are almost three times more likely to feel more positive about their financial situation

• More likely to feel confident in making financial decisions

• More likely to enjoy retirement

But, despite these benefits, and the cost of living crisis encouraging more people to pay closer attention to their finances, their research shows that “when it comes to retirement planning, the vast majority of people (72%) are still doing little, if anything.”

So, what’s stopping people?

Within the report, Standard Life put these low levels of engagement down to the advice and guidance gap, lack of education and support, and feelings of overwhelm when people do come across guidance or information on their pensions.

People who are not engaging with their pensions tend to have poorer financial wellbeing overall, with 66% worrying they are not saving enough for when they’re older and 47% feeling less confident in their ability to make good financial decisions.

For individuals, this leads to feelings of stress and anxiety, which in turn can lead to reduced productivity and performance for the companies that employ them.

Responsible employers must take action

While employers are beginning to recognise that financial wellbeing goes beyond paying salaries, it is still the least common area included in HR wellbeing strategies. Yet, as Gail Izat, Workplace Managing Director at Standard Life states, “employers are perfectly positioned to provide the information and guidance people need, because they can incorporate it into their workplace pension offering.”

In the midst of the cost of living crisis and the widening UK savings gap, it’s more important than ever that employers demonstrate a commitment to the financial wellbeing of their staff.

The good news is, with Open Finance technology like ours, it’s never been easier.

Unlocking value for pension providers and employers with Open Finance

Pension engagement is one part of the puzzle. If people are struggling with debt, managing their day-to-day finances or even focused on saving money for something like their first home, paying attention to or contributing more to their pension will be low on their list of priorities. For people to have healthy finances in retirement, they must adopt healthy financial habits through their working lives.

Standard Life has understood this and incorporated Money Mindset, built on our Open Finance capabilities, into their workplace offering.

Setting pension providers, and in turn employers, apart

Incorporating an Open Finance proposition like Money Mindset truly sets Standard Life’s offering apart.

Money Mindset offers users a complete picture of their entire financial world (current accounts, savings, properties, investments, pensions and more) alongside forecasting tools and even a financial education hub.

Providers who adopt these solutions will be the ones who see higher levels of engagement from employers, really differentiating their offering in a crowded market. They can work with clients to augment Employer Value Propositions and bring a host of benefits to their end-users.

It’s win-win-win

Fostering a more financially literate and resilient workforce benefits all parties mentioned in this blog post. Individuals gain confidence in managing daily spending and unexpected costs, get greater control and understanding of where their money is coming and going out, and get on track for a secure and sustainable financial future into retirement.

Employers reap the rewards of higher productivity and performance, reduced absenteeism and employee stress or burnout and become more attractive to, and better at retaining, top talent.

And of course, pension providers benefit from primacy among workplace clients and members, higher level of engagement and increased opportunities to boost AUM through consolidation or higher contributions. It’s win-win-win!

Would you like to find out more about how Open Finance could benefit your business? Talk to one of our guides →

How can Open Finance help bridge the UK savings gap?

The UK savings gap is a hugely pressing issue. The amount and rate at which working people are saving money for retirement is at a significant disparity with the amount required for a desirable living standard in later life.

Deloitte projects that the savings gap in the UK will reach a staggering £350 billion by 2050. This highlights the urgency to address the issue and find effective solutions to ensure individuals are prepared for their financial future.

What can Financial Services do?

Various factors contribute to the UK savings gap; increasing living costs, consumer debt, and a lack of sufficient financial education. Encouragingly, efforts have been made by the government and financial institutions to address this issue by introducing legislative changes and initiatives aimed at promoting savings, such as auto-enrolment, increased ISA flexibility, and the Personal Savings Allowance, but there’s still more to be done.

Savings capacity depends upon people having available money. At Moneyhub, we call this available money Potential. It’s the money left after non-discretionary spend is subtracted from income.

By helping users increase their Potential we can enable them to put more money in savings, investments or their pensions.

Helping people get established

According to the FCA, over a third (34%) of UK adults have less than £1,000 in their savings. For 18-24 year olds, that figure jumps to 47%.

These shaky foundations mean that as people then move through their late twenties and into their thirties, they may struggle to build savings capacity for things like a first home. Many are renting and may have taken on debt to get through the day-to-day.

So how can Open Finance help people establish themselves financially with firm foundations to build upon? And how can it help financial services engage them?

Engagement tools to help people take control

Whilst no amount of tools can make up for chronic low income or help families who simply do not have enough money to make ends meet, most money advisors say that the key to staying in control is to monitor transactions, set and stick to budgets and avoid missing regular payments.

Our technology is designed to help people do just that. You can embed the following solutions within your own offering to help users manage their money better, and make it easy to do so:

• Financial MOT

• Budgets and Forecasts

• Credit Score Improver

• Emergency Cash Builder

• First Home Saver

• Benefits Finder

• Personal Debt Manager

• Complete Personal Financial Management App

Get in touch to discuss which solutions could work for you →

Real users, real stories, real difference

Don’t just take our word for it. Ed is a Moneyhub user and father of 3. He’s worked in hospitality, the NHS and a forklift driver, and was struggling with debts he’d built up as a younger man

He explained, “I’d built up a lot of debt on credit cards by overspending and basically not having an understanding of where my money was and simply not caring. I used to buy things I could not afford and at the end of each month I was scrabbling around for pennies”

“I really like Moneyhub’s spending budgets, in fact they were almost life changing for me. I’d miss transactions in my bank accounts and credit cards and then spend ages going back trying to work out where everything was going.”

“By creating spending categories for everything such as fuel, beer, coffees, haircuts…all sorts of things, I could work out trends using the spending and income analysis, which enabled me to compare month on month. Looking back over the year I could see what I spent on average so I used that to set budgets and then every time I got paid I was able to put aside money in my bank account knowing that everything I had left was spare money. Since then my finances have turned around completely”

From day-to-day, to planning for the future

Once Ed felt in control of his day-to-day spending, he naturally started engaging with his longer-term finances:

“I had connected my workplace pension to Moneyhub so when the pandemic started I could see my pension’s value. Every day I looked it was going down as share prices were going down. Before Moneyhub I’d never have known about my pension but because it’s so visual, seeing the graph is brilliant. In fact it surprised me just how quickly pensions can go up and it's made me want to pay in more, especially now I’ve got spare money at the end of the month”

Building financial resilience unlocks customers’ Potential

Open Finance makes it easy for people to engage with their finances where they might have felt overwhelmed before. With oversight of where money is coming in and going out, incremental changes can be made, which include putting more money aside for later life.

Open Finance also offers businesses the chance to create highly personalised customer journeys throughout their financial life, resulting in stickier customers with increased Potential, to go some way to bridging the UK savings gap.

Find out more about how our technology can help you unlock your customers’ Potential →

How to connect your Pensions Dashboard to the Central Digital Architecture & Pension Providers

Connecting your pensions dashboard to the government’s central digital architecture (CDA) can be a daunting task, especially if your team is not well-versed in the technical aspects of the process. This post aims to provide an overview of the challenges and complexities involved in the connection process and how partnering with the right company can make this much easier.

Watch the webinar: How to build a pensions dashboard →

The Pensions Dashboard Ecosystem

Integrating your pensions dashboard with the CDA involves a lot of work. Unlike open banking, where customers authenticate with each bank or credit card provider individually, the pensions dashboard ecosystem allows customers to authenticate and verify their identity in one place via the Consent and Authorisation Service. This approach simplifies the process to some extent but doesn't remove all the complexities.

Connecting to the Central Architecture

You’ve gained all of your relevant permissions , and you’ve developed a User Interface that complies with all the relevant design standards . Now it’s time to connect to the PDP Central Digital Architecture (CDA) which is required for the ‘find’ process in Pensions Dashboards.

To do this, you'll need to use the User Managed Access (UMA) 2.0 standard.

This complicated protocol isn't widely used, so it’s unlikely that off-the-shelf libraries or vendor support will be readily available.

You'll likely require custom development and experienced engineering teams to tackle the intricate API flow and cryptographic signatures involved. Additionally, a lack of a robust sandbox or test environment makes debugging incredibly difficult.

Dealing with Individual Pension Providers

Connecting to the central service for authentication is only one part of the process. You'll also need to connect to individual pension providers to access the relevant pension data, required for the ‘view’ process in a pensions dashboard. 

The minutiae of this is similar to open banking and can be labour-intensive, as you'll need to obtain data from multiple providers.

Maintaining Compliance and Security:

When connecting to the central digital architecture, it's crucial to follow various standards, policies, and reporting requirements as part of the code of connection. Additionally, you'll need to have the right security policies in place, conduct penetration tests, and ensure that you're capable of handling sensitive personal and pension data securely.

The Benefits of Partnering with a Technical Services Provider

Working with a company like Moneyhub, which has extensive experience and expertise in this area, can save you time, effort, and money. Moneyhub can handle the complex UMA-based API and connections to pension providers while offering a simpler, single API for user authentication and pension data retrieval. 

You then have the option of designing your own front-end user interface, or we can handle that for you too.

How to comply with the PDP Data and Design Standards for Pensions Dashboards

Pensions dashboard development is being driven by the introduction of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) Data and Design Standards. These guidelines aim to create a unified and user-friendly ecosystem for individuals to access and manage their pension information. For businesses involved in designing a pensions dashboard, understanding the impact of these standards and ensuring compliance can be a complex task. In this post, we will explore the PDP Data and Design Standards, their implications for dashboard design, and why outsourcing to a technical services provider like Moneyhub can be a smart move.

Register for our upcoming webinar: How to build a pensions dashboard →

PDP Data and Design Standards: An Overview

The PDP Data and Design Standards are interrelated guidelines that focus on creating a consistent, secure, and user-friendly experience for individuals accessing their pension information through a dashboard. While the PDP Data Standards concentrate on the presentation and display of pension data, the PDP Design Standards address the technical, operational, and user experience aspects of pension dashboards.

PDP Data Standards

Aimed at ensuring a uniform presence of information within Pensions Dashboards, The Data standards provide exact details on all data that can be provided by pensions providers.

Including tables to help work out the myriad of scenarios that could be returned, The data standards are incredibly detailed and thorough.

The PDP Data Standards establish requirements for presenting and displaying pension information on dashboards, to ensure that users can easily understand and compare their pension data across different providers.

Key aspects include:

• Standardising data elements, such as pension type, pension value, and retirement age

• Data Exchange: Defining the structure, format, and protocols for exchanging pension data between providers, dashboard operators, and end-users

• Defining the format and structure of data to be displayed on the dashboard

• Ensuring consistency in the language and terminology used to describe pension information

PDP Design Standards

Concerned with comprehension, the design standards outline how Pensions Dashboards should display the information available.

From mandatory pieces of text, to guidelines on content that can add value, the standards are comprehensive.

The Design Standards provide a framework for developing pension dashboards that are secure, accessible, and user-friendly. They cover various aspects of dashboard design, including:

• Identity Verification: Ensuring consistent handover for central identification and authentication of users through secure methods

• User Experience: Establishing best practices for designing and delivering a consistent and user-friendly pension dashboard experience

• Security and Privacy: Implementing robust security measures and adhering to privacy regulations to protect users' personal and pension data

The Impact of PDP Data and Design Standards on Dashboards Design

Designing a pensions dashboard that complies with the Data and Design Standards can be a complex process, as it requires a deep understanding of the requirements and their implications for the design and development process. Some of the challenges businesses may face include:

• Ensuring consistency in the presentation and display of pension data across different providers

• Designing an accessible and user-friendly dashboard interface that caters to a wide range of users, including those with disabilities

• Integrating robust security measures and adhering to privacy regulations to protect users' personal and pension data

• Collaborating with pension providers and dashboard operators to establish seamless data exchange processes

How you can tackle compliance with the Data and Design Standards

Given the complexities and challenges associated with designing a pensions dashboard that complies with the PDP Data and Design Standards, outsourcing the design and development process to a Technical Services Provider like Moneyhub can be a smart move for businesses. Here are some key reasons why:

1. Tried and tested: We are already undertaking extensive usability research with real people, to assess and respond to how they interact with and understand the dashboard interface, ensuring a consistent and seamless experience for users.

2. Expert team: We are an Alpha Partner to the Pensions Dashboards Programme, and members of our team are members of the PDP Steering Group and have even contributed towards the development of the standards.

3. Efficiency: Outsourcing the design and development process to Moneyhub can result in a more streamlined, efficient, and cost-effective approach, as we already has the infrastructure, knowledge, and resources in place to ensure compliance with the PDP Data and Design Standards, and get you to market quicker.

4. Security and compliance: Our experience in the financial services industry enables us to implement robust security measures and adhere to privacy regulations, ensuring the protection of users' personal and pension data.

How to apply to the FCA to become a regulated Pensions Dashboards Service firm

By now we’ve seen that there will be many different providers of Pensions Dashboard Services (PDSs), and that, like you, many organisations will want to offer a dashboard to their customers or members. But what will organisations need to do in order to do that?

Register for our upcoming webinar: How to build a pensions dashboard →

Applying to the FCA to become a QPDS firm

Organisations that want to provide Pensions Dashboard Services will need to apply to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to become a regulated Qualified Pensions Dashboard Services (QPDS) firm.

The application process will be a bit different depending on whether your organisation is already FCA regulated or not. Organisations which are already authorised by FCA must extend, or vary, the scope of their permitted activities. They must complete and submit a detailed PDS Variation of Permission (VoP) application.

On the other hand organisations which are not yet regulated by the FCA must submit a full application form, which provides the FCA with more information about the organisation, it’s internal structure, and the people who run and own it.

The information you need to submit

Those initial differences aside, all organisations will need to provide information that is vital for the FCA to assess whether they meet all the necessary requirements.

First, you’ll need to provide standard organisational information to the FCA, e.g. systems and controls, compliance arrangements, and policy and procedures.

Then, your organisation needs to provide information about your core PDS offering and explain how you will comply with the PDP and DWP standards and the statutory audit, Data export evidence and Consumer Duty considerations.

You also need to think about your PDS business model, the regulatory business plan, outsourcing arrangements, making your dashboard available to third parties and any Post View Services (PVS) you wish to offer.

How long will it take you to complete your application?

We estimate that the work that needs to go into the application will take approximately 6 months. But if PDS won’t be available to the public for another few years, why are we encouraging organisations to start their application process immediately?

Getting FCA approval is only the first step, because only QPDS firms are allowed to connect to the Government’s Central Digital Architecture (CDA) and conduct testing with live data.

This testing will no doubt identify a number of improvements necessary to bring your PDS to the public, so it’s imperative for organisations to connect to the CDA and start testing as soon as possible.

What do you need to ask yourself to begin your application?

The first important question you need to think about is whether you want to do a dashboard by yourself or partner with a Technical Services Provider (TSP), like Moneyhub. We have a separate blog post on that, which lays out the pros and cons of each.

You must also consider the Data Export journey, whether you will offer PVS and if so, how many you will be applying for.

PVS could be important for your customers and are a good way of keeping them engaged, but keep in mind that you will need to apply for each of them. To do that you will need to provide detailed information about every PVS and evidence that you have undergone user testing and how it may have affected the PVS in question.

The more PVS you apply for the longer it will take for you to test them and prepare your application. We recommend that you apply for a very limited number of PVS in your initial application and add more after receiving FCA approval, as live testing will uncover more of what your customers need.

Potential PVS you might consider offering

• Compare to a target - Am I on track for my retirement target?

• Compare to others - How do my pensions compare to those of people like me?

• Explore combining my pensions - Is it the right choice? Who should I combine with?

• Investigate missing pensions - Why is a pension not shown that I was expecting to see?

• Consider household pensions - Consider my spouse’s/partner’s pension alongside my own

Consumer Duty and Pensions Dashboards

Another important factor will be Consumer Duty.

Since this will be the first new FCA regulated activity in a post-Consumer Duty world, you will need to show how your organisation is acting to deliver good customer outcomes in the development of your dashboard.

We suggest that you gather extensive evidence on good customer outcomes, the key risks identified, how they were mitigated and how your corporate culture helps you treat customers fairly from the beginning of your PDS journey.  

Other considerations

You’ll also need to examine whether you want to make your dashboard available to third parties early on. If so, you’ll need to provide the details of arrangements with third parties and the oversight arrangements, which ensure that third parties do not compromise consumer protections and meet all regulatory standards.

And vitally, you’ll need to demonstrate that your dashboard complies with all the relevant PDP, DWP and FCA standards and undergoing a statutory audit, which will be the focus of our next blog posts.

Subscribe to our Pensions Dashboards Insights below to be the first to know when they’re published.

What do consumers want and expect from Pensions Dashboards? Part 2

This is part two of our write up of our webinar What do consumers want & expect from Pensions Dashboards?

If you haven’t yet, catch up on part one here.

It’s apparent that referring to the pension dashboard is misleading. How do you think the industry might help consumers understand more about dashboards and the problems they are solving?

Richard: There absolutely will be multiple dashboards. It's crucial to help consumers understand their purpose and the problems they solve. Different consumers have varying needs, and dashboards must cater to these diverse requirements. Some users may want to check their pension through their banking app, while others might prefer to consolidate their pensions with a specific provider or use the government's MoneyHelper dashboard. Although all dashboards will show the same information, providers will offer them within different existing customer journeys, making them relevant to specific consumer needs at various stages of their financial lives.

It's important to note that consumer behavior cannot be legislated, and people tend to gravitate towards companies that align with their needs and preferences. For example, Lloyds Bank offers a pension view alongside their banking app, which has increased engagement and understanding. However, consumers may also seek providers that focus solely on pensions, as their priorities align more closely. The industry must become more aware of these consumer preferences and behaviors, ensuring that dashboards cater to different needs and expectations, ultimately providing a better user experience.

Is the government agnostic about which dashboards people use? And what does consumer success look like from Government’s perspective?

Chris: While I cannot speak on behalf of the government, I can provide insight from the Pensions Dashboard Programme (PDP) perspective. The government recognizes that there isn't a single use case for pension dashboards, and it's crucial to ensure that various use cases are accommodated in the future. The MoneyHelper dashboard will be the first confirmed dashboard available to the public, providing a government-backed, independent option that serves as a gateway to other offerings and free guidance from the Money and Pensions Service.

The government aims to build an infrastructure that allows for growth in the dashboard market, making them widely available from different providers and accessible through various platforms, such as banking apps or employee portals. This approach offers consumers choice and convenience in meeting their pension needs. As the market develops and users determine their preferences, the government wants the market to be responsive and provide a wide range of choices and benefits.

For pension dashboards to be successful from the government's perspective, they must be easily accessible, trustworthy, and provide satisfactory service with adequate protection - users need to trust the information and the provider, and know that if something goes wrong, there's an easy way to address it. By enabling an active and flourishing dashboard market, the government aims to help consumers meet their diverse pension needs, acknowledging that there isn't just one use case, but many.

What are your thoughts on which dashboard people will want to use? Or, more precisely: Which dashboards will different types of consumers want to use?

Alastair: Predicting which dashboard people will want to use, or more precisely, which dashboards different types of consumers will want to use, is quite challenging. It's difficult to determine consumer preferences until the dashboards are launched and used in real-life situations. People don't typically have a "dashboard day," but rather, they encounter these services while going about their daily lives, such as at work or while using other online services.

It's essential to work with consumers' preferences and go where they already are. Financial service providers, such as banks and pension providers, may have an advantage in this regard. However, the willingness of people to consent to different providers will play a significant role, as sharing sensitive financial information is a concern for many. Some individuals may prefer using a government-backed service like MoneyHelper due to its perceived trustworthiness.

The key to overcoming these hurdles is to present a strong use case and effectively communicate the benefits of using a particular dashboard. Although it remains to be seen which dashboard will be most popular, having multiple providers can increase reach, engagement, innovation, and ultimately lead to better outcomes for consumers.

What is early research telling us about which dashboards people might use, and why?

Richard: Early research reveals interesting insights into consumer preferences. While there is often a gap between what people say they will do and what they actually do, the reasons behind their choices can be quite revealing. In one study conducted by Moneyhub, 60% of respondents said they would prefer to use a commercial dashboard, while 40% opted for a government dashboard.

For those who chose the government's dashboard, impartiality was a key factor. These individuals appreciated that it seemed central and provider-agnostic. On the other hand, 10% of respondents preferred using another app, like a wealth app, because they believed that pensions are not the government's business and a dashboard should not be linked to a provider. Trust was also crucial for those who would use their bank's dashboard, as they relied on the security and reliability of their banking app for financial information.

Lastly, a third of respondents said they would use their pension provider's dashboard, as they associate pensions with their provider and expect them to have a dashboard. The variety of responses and reasons highlights the diverse preferences among consumers, indicating that multiple dashboards may be necessary to cater to different needs and expectations.

What sort of innovation do you think we can expect from the multi-dashboard landscape?

Alastair: We can expect innovation in various aspects of financial management and support. The benefits of this landscape will likely include advanced tools for analysing personal finances, identifying life moments, and providing tailored support. There is an ongoing debate about the advice and guidance boundary, with industry proposals for personalised financial guidance.

Consumer groups are cautious about this, but there is potential for regulators to provide clearer guidance on how firms can support customers. This may include highlighting tax implications or pointing out differences in types of annuities. Clarity in this area could lead to more effective support for consumers without necessarily shifting the contentious advice and guidance boundary.

As the dashboard program progresses, it is crucial to have a clear, credible, and updated plan, including a launch date for consumers. This should involve extensive testing before and after the launch to ensure a smooth and effective rollout. Learning from other sectors and international experiences will also be invaluable in refining the dashboards and adapting them to evolving consumer needs and preferences. The multi-dashboard landscape promises to be an ongoing process of innovation, testing, and improvement to serve consumers better.

Chris: Innovation can be expected in several areas, such as improvements to individual dashboards, enhancements across all dashboards, and the placement of dashboards. As standards are updated over time, we will gain insights into what works best and how individuals use dashboards effectively. The type of information displayed on dashboards will also likely evolve, with elements like costs, charges, types of investments, and pensions in payment being integrated in the future.

The timeline for implementing these innovations is currently under review, with an announcement from the Minister for Pensions expected before the summer recess. The primary goal is to establish a feasible and achievable timeline that meets the objectives of the industry, dashboard providers, and consumers. Ensuring that the right product is launched for consumers is crucial, and the public launch date will be determined once a clear vision of what can be delivered is established. While details are limited at this stage, the multi-dashboard landscape is guided by a strong set of principles aimed at improving the consumer experience.

Richard: We can expect innovations that address consumers' core questions: What have I got? Is it enough? And what can I do? Different organisations will cater to various consumer needs, providing more content and narrative explanations to help users understand their financial situation better. For instance, integrating open finance can enable seamless extra contributions to pension funds, making the process painless and frictionless.

In terms of timeline, the focus should be on consumer needs rather than data provision. Moneyhub is hosting a series of webinars to refocus the debate on consumers, exploring topics such as whether organisations will build their own dashboards or partner with specialists. Additionally, a LinkedIn group has been created for those interested in developing dashboards, fostering collaboration and idea-sharing. Some organisations have already chosen to white-label Moneyhb's dashboard, leveraging existing expertise instead of building their own. Overall, the multi-dashboard landscape will see innovations that prioritise consumer understanding and engagement in their financial journey.

What do consumers want and expect from Pensions Dashboards? Part 1

In May, we hosted a webinar What do consumers want & expect from Pensions Dashboards?

Driving the conversation on from back-end data connectivity to what dashboards will look like, how and where people will use them and how providers will deploy them in their existing customer journeys.

We were joined by Chris Curry (Principal, Pensions Dashboard Programme at MaPS), Alastair Reed (Principal Policy Adviser, Money at Which?) and Richard Smith (Independent Pensions Dashboards Consultant at Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association & Moneyhub) and the session was chaired by our CEO Sam Seaton.

You can watch the replay of the webinar here, or read on for part one of a write up of the questions covered.

Why do consumers need Pensions Dashboards?

Alastair: Consumers need Pensions Dashboards because pensions and retirement planning are complex aspects of personal finance, often involving large sums of money and difficult decisions. Many people struggle to understand their pension holdings, where they are held, and what their prospects are for retirement. Pensions Dashboards aim to address these challenges by providing a comprehensive view of an individual's pension assets, helping them make better decisions and potentially identifying lost or forgotten pensions.

While consumers may not need to check their pension dashboard daily, it is essential to review it at crucial life moments and when approaching retirement. Pensions Dashboards can encourage better decision-making, such as when to access pension funds and whether to seek advice or guidance. By providing a clearer picture of their pension assets, consumers can make more informed choices and better prepare for their retirement years. Ultimately, Pensions Dashboards aim to increase engagement and simplify the process of managing and understanding pension funds.

What’s PDP’s perspective on the key consumer needs that the overall dashboards initiative is seeking to address ?

Chris: One of the side effects of automatic enrollment is that people may not know they have pensions or where they are located. This can be due to different company names or market consolidations. It’s so important to now help people find lost pensions, which will lead to better planning and retirement understanding, which in turn will lead to improved outcomes for consumers. Pension dashboards are part of the solution to this, though should not be the sole basis for decision making). For dashboards to be effective, information must be presented clearly, in plain English, and be comparable across different pension types. Additionally, there should be clear signposting to impartial guidance and advice. Ultimately, the goal is to empower individuals to make better decisions, leading to better outcomes in their pensions.

What else can you tell us about what the research has shown us consumers want from dashboards?

Richard: Research has consistently shown that consumers want specific features from pensions dashboards. Firstly, consumers have expressed excitement and a positive reaction to the idea of a dashboard, as it can help alleviate anxiety about their financial future and improve their overall well-being. Secondly, they want comprehensive coverage, meaning they can see all their pensions in one place. This has led to new laws requiring all pension schemes and providers to make their data digitally available. Thirdly, consumers desire key information such as total monthly income (TMI) in retirement across different pensions.

Furthermore, consumers want security, simplicity, and support without being sold to. They need to trust the security of the dashboard, have information displayed in a simple, understandable way, and receive guidance without feeling pressured to buy any products. According to Nest Insight's research, consumers respond best to pension communications that are positive, plausible, plain-speaking, and personal. Dashboards provide this personalised communication, and with multiple organisations working together, consumers can expect secure, simple, and supportive dashboards with comprehensive data coverage in the near future

A lot of focus is on the underlying data provision and PDP’s central digital architecture, what does a consumer facing dashboard actually consist of? 

Richard: The pensions dashboard ecosystem is composed of numerous stakeholders operating in different layers. Layer 1 represents the consumers who can choose which dashboard they want to use. Layer 2 includes the Government's dashboard, the MoneyHelper dashboard, and various commercial dashboards such as Lloyds Bank and Moneyhub. Regardless of the chosen dashboard, they all connect to Layer 4, the Central Digital Architecture (CDA) provided by PDP. Layer 5 includes data connections into the CDA, while Layer 6 represents all pension schemes and providers. Layer 7 showcases the complexity of mandatory data provision.

When a user logs into their chosen dashboard, the CDA verifies their digital identity and passes their personal details to all connected data providers. These providers must then carry out a comparison and return the prescribed pensions information to the user's dashboard. Upon logging out, the pension information is not retained but can be exported for further analysis.

Layer 3 is crucial as it involves regulations and standards set by various entities, such as the DWP, HMT, FCA, and PDP, with the primary aim of protecting consumers. These regulations include DWP guidelines, Treasury's Regulated Activity Order, FCA's Pension Dashboard Conduct of Business rules, PDP design standards, and annual statutory compliance audits. Additionally, dashboard providers must comply with data, technical, code of connection, and reporting standards. As the dashboard ecosystem evolves, these standards will be updated to continuously improve pension services for consumers.

Can you explain to any firm considering offering a dashboard to their customers about the different FCA and PDP requirements, how they interact, and how to go about approaching them?

Chris: Firms considering offering a dashboard to their customers should be aware of the different FCA and PDP requirements, as well as how they interact and how to approach them. Pensions dashboards are a force for good, but they can also make people more susceptible to scams and fraud. Therefore, it is crucial for firms to ensure that the dashboard is secure and reliable. There are three main requirements to consider: existing legislation, FCA rules, and PDP standards.

The FCA rules specify what firms must do when acting as a qualifying pensions dashboard service, while PDP standards provide guidance on how to do it. Many firms running dashboards will be familiar with the multi-level, multi-agency approach, as they may already be complying with FCA rules and the FCA Rule Book. PDP standards set out how to connect and interoperate with the Central Digital Architecture, as well as design standards for displaying pensions information and signposting.

It is essential for dashboards to provide information in a way that users can understand and make informed decisions. To ensure there are no gaps between FCA rules and PDP standards, both organisations have been working closely with the DWP. They have recently conducted a consultation and are currently reviewing the responses to update their requirements.

Firms should listen to the consultation responses and be prepared to adapt their dashboards as regulations and standards evolve. By doing so, they can ensure that their dashboard provides a secure, reliable, and user-friendly experience for consumers while complying with all necessary regulations and standards.

Which? has been instrumental in shaping the consumer standards - can you tell us about the key things you were worried about in your response to the FCA and PDP consultations, and also where you see opportunities for firms to best serve their customers?

Alastair: At Which?, there were concerns regarding the response to the FCA and PDP consultations, as well as opportunities for firms to best serve their customers. The key concern was whether financial conduct should regulate dashboard providers and if there should be multiple dashboards from the private sector. The benefits of multiple dashboards could outweigh the risks, but only if strong consumer protections are built into the system.

Which was pleased when the government committed to a bespoke regulatory system, as existing protections like GDPR might not be sufficient. The FCA's proposed regulations, such as a ban on advertising on dashboards and restrictions on data exports, have been well-received. However, there are concerns about how easily the FCA can regulate user journeys once they are off the dashboard.

In terms of opportunities, innovation and engagement are expected to happen off dashboards, with benefits arising from various tools and services. Which also envisions long-term development for dashboards, including the inclusion of accessed pensions, costs, and charges. This would allow for better modeling and transparency, ultimately benefiting customers and providing a more comprehensive service.

Pensions dashboards: Build or Buy?

You already know that there will be multiple pensions dashboards, and why it’s so important to offer your own.

The next step to decide is whether you have the time, tech, resource and expertise to build your pensions dashboard in-house, or if you should partner with a Technical Services Provider like Moneyhub who can do the legwork for you. 

Building your dashboard in-house: The cons

• Higher upfront costs – including training, recruitment, necessary licenses, hardware and many other overheads that will need to be sustained.

• Slower to get started – finding the right people to build your team is incredibly time-consuming. This process will likely take several weeks, and you have to factor in any notice potential employees have to give to their current organisations.

• The regulatory factors - these are incredibly complex. You’ll need to consider:

  • Permissions: Your compliance teams will need to make a very detailed Variation of Permission (VoP) application to the FCA to be a regulated Pensions Dashboard Service (PDS) firm, with evidence demonstrating, for example, how you have considered the Consumer Duty customer understanding outcome.

  • Compliant User Interface (UI): The “front-end” pensions dashboard display that you build must be capable of showing pensions from right across the UK pensions universe, compliant with the FCA PDCOB Handbook rules, the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) Data and Design Standards as well as DWP’s State Pension display standards.

  • Compliant technical integration with ecosystem: Your technologists will need to develop and test detailed technology connections with a) the PDP Central Digital Architecture (CDA) (for the Find process) and b) data providers (for the View process), compliant with the PDP Technical and Security Standards.

  • Ongoing operations, reporting and audit: Once you launch your pensions dashboard, it will need to be continually compliant with the PDP Operational and Service Standards, with ongoing management information reports being produced, compliant with the PDP Reporting Standards and the FCA supervisory requirements, as well as enabling annual audits by an independent external expert party to assess your ongoing compliance with all the various Standards

Building your dashboard in-house: The pros

• Dedication – You’ll have a small team dedicated solely to your project full-time with no competing priorities.

• In-depth knowledge of your business and your customers – Employees will have insight into your business and customer needs, mindset, branding, and vision, informing the way they develop your product.

• Faster sign-offs/approvals – unlike working with a third party, less organisation needs to go into setting up discussions for sign-offs and approvals. These things happen much quicker when you can have an informal chat over lunch or in the meeting room.

• Flexibility – there isn’t a fixed budget or other constraints that come with working with an external partner, so you can spend more time tweaking and modifying your product.

Partnering to build your Pensions Dashboard: The cons

• More coordination required - occasionally, when there’s multiple parties at the table, sign offs or revisions can become more complex.

• Upfront cost - paying a chunk of the project costs up front can initially make partnering look like a more expensive option.

Partnering to build your Pensions Dashboard: The pros

• Extensive expertise & talent under one roof - we bring a unique combination of all the necessary multi-disciplinary expertise required for this complex project including:

  • Regulatory compliance

  • Pensions knowledge (DB & DC)

  • User experience

  • User interface design

  • API development

  • Maintenance

  • Service and support

• De-risk your project - with our Open Finance connectivity you’d be able to show your customers all of their financial assets alongside their pensions, discouraging them to move between apps.

• Plug & Play - rather than using valuable time finding, building. the right team to work on your dashboard, we have an expertly informed team of people ready to get working with you right away.

• We do the testing, so you don’t have to - we’re uniquely advantaged by our consumer money management app as a means for testing, responding and tweaking based on how real users interact with the tech. The results of these tests are then rolled out across our clients’ apps, meaning you’ll have the best, most intuitive product on the market right from the start.

• An Alpha partner of the Pensions Dashboards Programme - the PDP selected us as one of their alpha partners and we were the first commercial dashboard to successfully connect to the central architecture.

• First line support - your users will have access to our front-line technical support team

• Cost effective - the time and resource savings available by partnering with a Technical Services Provider reduce your overall project costs.

• Holistic financial picture - with our Open Banking and Open Finance connectivity you’ll be able to build the most engaging onward journeys for your customers - show your customers all of their financial assets alongside their pensions, discouraging them to move between apps, or power modellers, calculators and consolidation services.

How would it work?

Embedding Moneyhub’s dashboard within your existing app or website.

For optimal customer journeys, both into and back out of your dashboard, you will very likely wish to embed our fully compliant pensions dashboard within your existing app(s) or website(s) which your customers already use and are already familiar with.

There are options for how to achieve this embedding, depending on whether your firm wishes to:

• Be the regulated pensions dashboard service (PDS) firm or

• Rely on Moneyhub’s PDS permissions.

There are pros and cons to these different options, which we’ll come back to in our next update.

For now, all you need to think about is whether you want to do a dashboard, whether building in-house or partnering with a TSP is right for your business.

Watch our webinar: What do consumers want & expect from Pensions Dashboards? →

Should you offer a pensions dashboard?

Offering a pensions dashboard is not mandated. You can always merely direct  your customers away from your app or website, to the Government’s MoneyHelper pensions dashboard.

But, we know that there will be multiple dashboards and that consumers expect pension providers, master trusts, banks and other organisations they already have relationships with to offer a pensions dashboard.

Watch our webinar ‘What do consumers want and expect from Pensions Dashboards?’ →

What will your customers do if you don’t offer a pensions dashboard?

Well, they can either:

• Use the Government’s MoneyHelper dashboard

• Or they can go to the apps and websites of your competitors who are offering dashboards..

What if you only show your customers the pension(s) they hold with you?

In the pensions dashboards age, platforms which only show users the details of one of their pensions, rather than their complete picture, will become increasingly irrelevant to them.

Risks of only offering a limited, or no pensions dashboard:

• Lose customer primacy to your competitors.

• See diminished usage of your app or website by your customers, with weaker relationships and reduced utility / support.

• Leak assets under management to your competitors as your customers consolidate their pensions away from you.

How can you encourage your customers to see yours as the go-to pensions dashboard?

If you offer your own dashboard, you will own your customers’ journeys on your existing app or website. Your customers can find and view their total pension retirement income, across their State Pension and all of their different workplace and personal pensions.

If your dashboard is also within an Open Finance platform where users can see their other assets and finances too, such as savings, investments and mortgages, there’s no need for them to go elsewhere.

The benefits of offering a pensions dashboard

It’s hard not to see the benefits of offering your own pensions dashboard. .

• Develop deeper long-term digital relationships with your customers.

• Better support your customers’ ongoing retirement planning and financial wellness.

• Seamlessly support those of your customers who wish to consolidate pensions thus accelerating the growth of your total assets under management.

The question isn’t if people will use pensions dashboards, it's where they will use them.

So, if you aren’t offering customers a dashboard, they’ll likely look elsewhere for one. This could mean your customers are pushed into building relationships with your competitors.

If you want to maintain those relationships you’ve worked hard to build, offering a pensions dashboard is not an option, it’s a must.

To stay up to date with all things pensions dashboards including upcoming webinars, blogs, and videos, sign up to our dedicated newsletter below.

If you’d like to speak to one of our pensions dashboards experts, get in touch with us by filling in this form.

How many pensions dashboards will there be?

Over the last few months, many pension providers, master trusts, banks and other organisations have come to us for help with their pensions dashboard offering.

Market-leading thinking on dashboards is developing very rapidly. So what does the landscape look like? What do you need to know right now to inform your strategy and secure your first mover advantage?

This is the first in a series of blog posts that aim to equip you with the knowledge you need to get ahead in the dashboards world.

Watch our webinar ‘What do consumers want and expect from Pensions Dashboards?’ →

Who will provide pensions dashboards?

There will be multiple dashboards. To say that people will use the pensions dashboard is a bit like saying someone consumes the news.

Some of us turn on the TV and watch the same channel’s news offering at the same time each day. Some listen to the radio, some check Twitter or Youtube, some even pick up a newspaper. Many of us like to combine sources and mediums.

Much like the news, there will be an array of platforms or sources through which we can access pensions dashboard services. But there’s no spin here - the pensions data on each platform will be exactly the same.

There will be a Government pensions dashboard. The BBC of dashboards, say. This is the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard from the Money and Pensions Service (or MaPS).

But many other dashboards will be available for consumers to use,  with Government policy actively encouraging a landscape of multiple dashboards regulated by the FCA. Much like the news, consumers will expect to be able to access their pension information on apps or websites that they already use (and trust), such as their bank, pension provider or even a money management app like Moneyhub’s. These are collectively referred to as commercial dashboards with regulations officially calling them Qualifying Pensions Dashboard Services (QPDSs). 

Which dashboard will people use?

Only the future will tell us for sure but as we already demonstrated with our news analogy, research, including our own, shows people expect to access their pension information on dashboards across different providers.

Different research to date

Moneyhub’s research:

In 2023, we asked a sample of our users “Which dashboard would you use?”

That makes the split:

Our own rapid consumer research from January 2023 found that 40% of people would use the Government’s dashboard.

Clearly, people understand the benefits of different commercial dashboards located within the app of a trusted brand.

PLSA webinar poll

In March 2022, a PLSA pension scheme webinar audience was asked “Do you think your scheme members would look to use a pensions dashboard provided by…”

ABI consumer research

In 2021, the ABI commissioned BritainThinks to research 4,000 users’ views, split into four groups. 1,000 weren’t shown a dashboard and 1,000 respectively were shown a dashboard provided by the Government, a pension provider and a bank. All 4,000 were asked “Who would be the best provider?”

The group who weren’t shown a dashboard responded:

The group who were shown a Government dashboard responded:

The group who were shown a dashboard from a pension provider responded:

And the group who were shown a dashboard from a major bank responded:

BritainThinks found that consumers consider the Government as a dashboard provider in the first instance, because they intuitively associate the Government with pensions and work.

The Government is also trusted as an impartial entity (compared to a private pension provider) and is expected to hold data on people’s pensions already.

However, BritainThinks survey revealed that people’s perceptions of the safety/suitability, and uptake of different dashboard providers is more likely to be driven by exposure and convenience.

Within the research:

• The group exposed to the test government dashboard were most likely to see the government as the best provider,

• The group exposed to the test bank provided dashboard were most likely to see their own bank as the best provider, and

• The group exposed to the test pension provider dashboard were most likely to see pension providers as the best provider.

So the dashboard provider which consumers saw in the testing was the one they saw as the best.

It’s therefore likely that consumers will stick with the first dashboard they become aware of and use.

Conclusion

There will be multiple commercial dashboards as well as the Government’s impartial MoneyHelper dashboard from MaPS, but all displaying the same pensions data. People expect financial institutions such as banks or pension providers to offer a dashboard.

A minority of consumers expect to use the Government’s dashboard, the majority instead preferring to use a dashboard offered by a trusted pension provider or bank. This is likely down to having an established trust and existing relationship with these brands, as well as the convenience of finding a dashboard within apps they already use.

The uptake of different dashboards will likely be driven by exposure (whose will they see first?) and ease of use.

It’s vital therefore that businesses who want to be among the first to offer a dashboard to their customers start considering the front-end (or, what the dashboard will look like and how people will interact with it) sooner rather than later.

To stay up to date with all things pensions dashboards including upcoming webinars, blogs, and videos, sign up to our dedicated newsletter below.

Finding out what consumers really want from Pensions Dashboards

3 min read: New FCA and PDP consultations have been published on how dashboards must look and feel. We’re engaging with our customers and clients to obtain key feedback on these proposals and examine how they’ll really work for users.

By Richard Smith, Moneyhub Pensions Dashboards Strategy Adviser

It’s no secret that  we’re massive supporters of pensions dashboards here at Moneyhub. We know that millions of consumers want to grow their confidence and gain clarity around their money for their later lives.

We’re an alpha partner to the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) and we’ve shared our alpha dashboard for all to give an early view of how dashboards can help consumers and what they could mean for pension providers. 

But what do consumers really want from a Pensions Dashboard? We’re committing to finding out.

Research with real users

From our extensive Open Banking experience, we know how important it is to seek feedback from real users on key elements of the UX (User Experience). Controls are vital for consumer protection, but they must also allow room for provider innovation to best meet consumers’ needs, so they can grow in confidence with enhanced overall financial wellbeing.

We really want to help ensure pensions dashboards land well for consumers. So, we’re going to ask some real consumers what they think about the FCA’s and PDP’s dashboards proposals.

Working with invited members of Moneyhub’s app user community, we will test consumer reactions to the various design controls being proposed today by FCA and PDP.  We will also test these customer views with our corporate clients. All of this detailed intelligence will feed back into Moneyhub’s consultation responses back to FCA and PDP in February.

The FCA and PDP are shining a spotlight on consumers

Whilst dashboards have been in the pipeline a while, much of the debate has been on scheme compulsion and compliance.

Now though, these two further consultations firmly put the spotlight on a third, and most important, “C” - consumers: 

• FCA are consulting on the draft regulatory framework for pensions dashboards: or, in simpler words, they’re proposing draft rules for how all authorised providers of Qualifying Pensions Dashboard Services (QPDSs) must behave towards consumers.  This covers things like: What criteria must providers meet to get FCA’s permission to operate a QPDS? What must, and mustn’t, QPDS providers do? When can QPDS providers allow dashboard users to export their found pensions information? etc. 

• PDP are consulting on the draft Design Standards for pensions dashboards: In parallel with FCA’s QPDS rules consultation above, PDP is making proposals for how all QPDS providers must display consumers’ pensions.  For example, on the list of users’ found pensions, in what order should they appear?  And how should important contextual messages about the different pension amounts be presented on dashboards?

What next?

FCA and PDP will then review all the feedback they receive and publish final QPDS rules / Design Standards, probably in early Summer 2023.  Moneyhub will then apply to the FCA to become one of the first authorised QPDS providers.  Corporate clients will be able to use this dashboard, standalone or white-labelled, to help their customers see all their pensions together.

We know consumer confidence is low, and consumer confidence in pensions is rock bottom.  Many consumers lack the ability and / or confidence to answer very basic questions about their pensions, such as: ‘What pensions have I got?’, ‘Will I have enough?’ and ‘What can I do?’

Dashboards will revolutionise pensions customer service: enabling consumers to do a secure digital search for all their pensions and then see an indication of their total pension position.  

Users of the Moneyhub dashboard (standalone or white-labelled) will also be able to see their pensions within the wider context of all of their financial assets and liabilities, including investments, savings, property, loans, mortgages, bank accounts, credit cards and more, through Moneyhub’s Open Finance app.

Looking ahead.

Pensions dashboards present a generational opportunity to grow consumer confidence, but only if the mandated controls on, and design of, dashboards works well for consumers of different types.  At Moneyhub, we’ll continue to ensure the voice of the consumer is heard, so that, when launched, dashboards offer consumers a truly useful service, helping them plan for retirement, and enhancing lifelong financial wellbeing.  

Do you want to make sure you're Pensions Dashboards ready? Check out our Pensions Dashboards hub crammed full of handy resources and blog posts or access our sandbox for an idea of what Pensions Dashboards might look like.

If you’d prefer to chat through what dashboards mean for your business, please do get in touch.

Passing on the baton, for us all to get pensions dashboards done

Amongst numerous recent changes in our political leadership, Guy Opperman has handed the Pensions Ministerial baton on to Alex Burghart.

Like Guy, Alex is a keen Pensions Dashboards advocate and that renewed passion is really welcome.  But it’s now more up to industry than Government to get dashboards done, as regulations are finalised.

The Pensions Dashboards Relay

Government passes the baton to industry: The Government originally handed the dashboards baton to industry in March 2016 when the Coalition Chancellor George Osborne said he would ensure the industry designs, funds and launches a dashboard.

Industry hands it back to Government: Industry took up that challenge enthusiastically, with the ABI leading a prototype dashboard project.  The prototype was delivered at Easter 2017, with an accompanying report later that year.  Crucially, the prototype report said that, for dashboards to be successful, Government would need to introduce legislation compelling pension schemes and providers to make their data available digitally for display on dashboards.  Baton passed back to Government!

Government delivers it back to industry: That compulsion request was actually a huge ask, which Guy worked tirelessly to deliver over the last five years.  A Government feasibility study in 2018, followed by a consultation in 2019, led to a Pension Schemes Bill in 2020, enacted in 2021, with secondary legislation being consulted on earlier in 2022.  Very shortly, the Government will publish the final dashboards regulations (and accompanying standards), delivering on industry’s 2017 request for dashboards compulsion.  This finally passes back the baton to us in industry to get dashboards done.

Up to industry to finish the job

Whilst Alex finds his feet, there’s no need for a hiatus on dashboards.  Rather, this now gives leading industry providers the opportunity, or duty even, to become the voice of change and drive better outcomes for consumers.

Industry mustn’t wait.  Dashboards have cross-party support, for good reason: millions of Britons need more control over their futures, and soon.  We should learn from previous initiatives, like Open Banking, where industry grasped the mantel and drove out the change.

Industry’s big providers should be encouraged to join Moneyhub in now testing the standards, and setting the pace for delivering the benefits to the consumers we all serve.

What’s left to do?

So how must industry now step up and deliver dashboards success?  There are three crucial areas:

• Data: Pension providers must comply by connecting up their data to the Government’s central digital architecture or equivalent alternative testing solutions.  This starts with early volunteers this autumn.  Then, from Easter 2023, all data providers must connect, in stages. 

• Consumer experience: At the same time, dashboard providers, such as Moneyhub, must test the most effective ways to display all the connected pensions data to many different consumers of different types, refining the alpha dashboards which are already in place.

• Launch: Remember George? Back in 2016 he said industry must also launch dashboards.  So whilst we’re busy getting all the back-end data connections and the front-end dashboards working correctly, we must also prepare for a highly successful launch to the general public.

Getting dashboards done

Millions of people in Britain will finally be able to see their pensions together.  If they use the Moneyhub dashboard they’ll be able to see their pensions alongside their other finances too.  This will really help grow consumers’ control and confidence, much needed in times of financial stress.
Grateful thanks to Guy for getting us this far. Alex has a tough act to follow but a great opportunity to support the pensions industry as it embraces innovative technologies for the ultimate benefit of consumers.

Open Finance drives greater transparency of pensions and investments impact

The issues of pension engagement and the impact of investment are coming to a head with campaigns like MakeMyMoneyMatter, the need to build back better after Covid-19 and regulatory change. It is no coincidence.

More than 10 million people are contributing to workplace pensions following auto-enrolment, but engagement and contribution levels remain low. Traditional ways to engage people in later-life planning have not worked. And this matters, as the vast majority of people are at risk of lower living standards in retirement.

Bridging the engagement gap

One way to bridge the engagement gap is to talk about the things people say they care about. A range of studies, including the FCA, show people - especially younger people - are more likely to engage, save more and take some investment risk when their pensions are responsibly invested.  

Percentage of members willing to engage, contribute or take more risk if pension savings are responsibly invested - Data source: FCA

All investment has impact, and regulators, scheme managers, providers and members are increasingly incorporating environmental, social and governance factors as part of prudent risk management. Now, schemes’ statement of investment principles have to state how they account for financially material considerations, including Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations like climate change.   

The overwhelming majority - more than 90% of master trust pension scheme members - are invested in their providers’ default fund. Default funds provide many important protections for pension members. So why not tell scheme members about the real world impact their pension contributions are having while invested for their future within the default fund? This Quietroom video shares pension savers’ positive reaction to seeing their pension is invested in housing, hospitals and renewable energy - and horror at the thought it could be funding tobacco or coal.

A recent DCIF report showed 80% of DC savers want their pension investments to do some good as well as provide them with a financial return. Younger cohorts and women are particularly interested in the impact of their money and ESG issues (Ref. 1) so there is an opportunity to have an outsized effect engaging with these groups that have often been underrepresented and underserved.

“A recent DCIF report showed 80% of DC savers want their pension investments to do some good as well as provide them with a financial return.”

Using technology to make it personal 

Open Banking and Open Finance are secure data-sharing frameworks that enable data from utilities companies, ESG ratings and investment fund holdings to be combined with financial data sets to support a range of propositions to resonate with people.  

While millions of people are in the same default fund, a provider could share personalised communications based around members' preferences. For example, two members invested in the same default fund could receive different digital annual statements: highlighting the amount of renewable energy generated, or tonnes of waste diverted from landfill for a member with environmental concerns, while another member in the same default hears about improvements in diverse board representation or gender pay gaps. Across millions of members, or retail investors, those same preferences could inform future proposition development around thematic default funds or retail investment funds based around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Examples are emerging through The Big Exchange (co-founded by The Big Issue) and tickr. 

The Big Exchange and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

An aggregated view of someone’s personal finances is an essential part of sound financial planning. Including ESG ratings and fund holdings into this view helps informed decision-making and sound investment diversification. For example, a holistic view of pension, ISA and general investment accounts could reveal a concentration in particular sectors or firms. Sugi is the UK's first app to check the carbon impact of investments and compare investments across a range of funds and platforms to help consumers’ build a greener portfolio.

Read more about Sugi here

With the data capabilities in place, Open Finance enables firms to cost-effectively deliver a level of personalisation and insight to consumers previously the preserve of conversations between high-net worth individuals and their wealth managers.

Footprinting everyday spending

Companies such as Co-Go are already integrating carbon and transaction data to create a carbon footprint tracker for everyday spending. Elsewhere, integrating utilities bill data could show the real payback for a green retrofit of your home, for example.

Cost-effective technology brings transparency

For asset managers, these alternative data sets can not only inform future proposition development around thematic default funds or retail investment funds, they can also be used in equity and fixed income research. More than $30 trillion - which is more than a third of the world’s professionally-managed assets - are in ESG and impact investments. Yet, as noted in a recent Columbia Threadneedle report, ESG data has been hampered by a lack of verification as researchers have relied on voluntary disclosure in annual financial and CSR reporting. Open Banking and Open Finance could provide “alternative datasets” to help “minimise reliance on voluntary disclosure”.  

Open Finance provides transparency for customers — be they individuals or companies — and employees to align their purchasing, saving and investment choices with their values. Technology, member appetite and regulatory support together mean best in class providers are tantalisingly close to bridging the pensions engagement gap.

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Author

Hannah Gilbert

Hannah is a Client Director with senior industry experience in financial services, telecoms, public and not-for-profit organisations. Hannah has co-authored policy papers including “Pensions for the Next Generation: Communicating What Matters” and has consultancy experience in sustainability, responsible investment and social enterprise. With two Masters (Economics and Sustainable Tourism), Hannah is on the EMBA programme at Cass Business School and Women in FinTech Powerlist 2019.

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References

1. https://update.lgim.com/dc-esg and https://www.ii.co.uk/analysis-commentary/most-britons-dont-know-whether-pension-line-their-values-ii513951

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