Ahead of the FCA’s consultation submission deadline of 13th February 2025 here’s my initial take on the FCA’s proposal and the opportunities for pension providers.
Targeted Support for Pensions is:
A new type of ‘product communication’ outside of GDPR/ICO 'marketing'
A regulated activity in its own right distinct from holistic financial advice
Focused on Defined Contribution pension savers and those in decumulation
For consumers who have limited touch points with their pension providers
Targeted Support for Pensions will:
Combine product and consumer information to create Targeted Support journeys
Be ‘opt-out’ for consumers, so it’s ‘always-on’ product/customer event monitoring
Be subject to Consumer Duty so consumer testing & outcomes monitoring will be key
Probably be free at the point of delivery
Pension Savers will:
Be allocated to segments of consumers with similar characteristics
Be able to provide limited additional information to their product provider
Receive an actionable suggestion they can trust for people in their circumstances
Pension Firms providing Targeted Support will:
Design and build pre-defined ‘scenarios’, ‘segments’, ‘solutions’ and ‘suggestions’
Have freedom to adapt these to their own business, products and customers
Need to access and verify consumer data before making a ‘suggestion’
Use their judgement to define and evidence ‘better outcomes’
Why it matters:
There’s a looming retirement crisis: More retirees, more pots, more solutions - yet fewer advisors to help
In isolation, Targeted Support has the potential to help millions of people to better understand and engage with their pensions, however;
Combined with Pensions Dashboards’ Post View Services, Consumer Duty’s flexibility and the drive toward Smart / Open Data, Targeted Support gives pension providers the opportunity to fundamentally redesign the way they engage their customers at key life and product events
What else? The FCA…
Has opened the door to a pension consolidation journey from within a QPDS pensions dashboard
Provides pension providers with flexibility to design their own solutions or for a standardised industry solution
Will consult on Targeted Support for Retail Investments in H1 2025
Need help? Moneyhub is…
Designed from outset as an ‘open data’ platform in which pensions providers can quickly build, test and refine their targeted support journeys
Able to continually ingest and monitor product data from core product systems, external consumer data or 3rd party sources such as Pensions Dashboards
The ideal place for pension providers to build their scenario, segment and suggestion/solution engines
To accelerate your Targeted Support journey, contact me now.
Simon Ripton is Moneyhub’s Proposition Director and a former IFA