Dave Tonge, CTO
Our CTO Dave Tonge continues his conversation with Moneyhub Pensions Strategy Advisor Richard Smith on the huge impacts pensions dashboards are going to have on how pension providers can help their customers
Richard Smith
Richard, we spoke last time about why pensions dashboards are so important, helping people find their lost pensions and then gain confidence in understanding what total income they might get in retirement.
I’m sure lots of pension providers are thinking how can pensions dashboards help them to enhance what they do for their customers?
What would you say?
I think many pension schemes and providers really want to enhance the service they offer their customers, but it’s very difficult for them to do that without knowing the context of the customer’s wider pension position. And indeed, their wider financial position.
This is where I get really excited about how pensions dashboards, and wider open finance tools, are about to herald a revolution in segmented pensions communications, almost down to “segments of one”, that is: personalised.
We know from Nest Insight research in 2020 that people respond best to “4 Ps” pensions communications: that is, communications which are positive, plausible, plain spoken, but most importantly, personal.
For example, communications to me, in my 50s, with my mature mix of defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pensions, should ideally be completely different to those for my 20-something daughter with her collection of very small DC pensions.
Every one of the 25 million people in Britain with workplace and personal pensions has a completely unique “pensions back story”.
And when providers are aware of more of that back story context, they can much better nudge and suggest the most appropriate next steps each unique customer might want to consider.
So you think pension providers will want to offer pensions dashboards?
I’m certain of it. Why wouldn’t you want to help your pension customers with their overall retirement plans, by showing their full position on your app?
“Banks, financial advisers, pensions administration firms, and other corporates will very likely want to offer this too, to enable their customers to see their different pensions on their existing apps and websites.”
That makes so much sense. I guess the really interesting question is: which pensions dashboard do you think people will want to use?
That’s right - it’s a really interesting question. The first question is: will every pension provider offer a dashboard, so their customers can see their pensions together? As I’ve said, I think there are strong arguments why they should, but I guess one barrier might be the technology cost of having to build all the necessary API connections into the Government’s central digital service.
Yes, but that’s precisely why at Moneyhub we’re developing our pensions dashboard so it can be white labelled, either in whole or in part, by pension providers and other corporate clients, and be fully integrated into providers’ existing technology.
Moneyhub is doing the hard work to get dashboards up and running, and fully complying with all the Government’s strict mandatory standards, so clients can confidently integrate this into their tools which they know their customers already love.
I guess another question pension providers will be asking is which of their customers are going to be the most interested in using dashboards?
Well, consistent international evidence from other countries with mature dashboards shows that most users are aged 50 and over. Because generally, folk get more interested in pensions as they get nearer retiring.
But the UK Government is hopeful that, by making dashboards attractive, and integrated with existing apps, our clients will be able to encourage more young people to feel comfortable using dashboards, looking at their different pensions, with personalised communication as we mentioned before, and really building their confidence.
That’s so true. Dashboards are for everybody. Not just older folk! So there’s a lot for providers to think about and be getting on with. Let’s pick up soon on when it’s all happening.
Certainly. In the meantime, to find out more sign up for our pension insights using the form below. Keep visiting as we’ll be publishing lots more detailed information about Moneyhub’s pensions dashboards product suite, and how clients can white label it.
