100,000 signatures for the Pension Dashboard petition
38 Degrees recently launched a petition in response to media reports that the Pensions Dashboard might not go ahead.
The report suggested that MP Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, was thinking of ditching the pensions dashboard due to more pressing priorities.
100,000 signatures
The petition has now reached 100,000 signatures, showing the depth of feeling and the support that the initiative has in the country. It also means that it can now be considered for debate in Parliament.
The benefits of the Pensions Dashboard are easily seen and have clearly struck a chord with people.
Anthony Rafferty, Managing Director at Origo said: “We at Origo have been passionate supporters of the Pensions Dashboard since the initiative was launched, believing it is essential to help individuals engage with their retirement planning, particularly in the new pensions environment which was ushered in with the pensions freedoms.”
The technology is ready
The technology was recently successfully tested on 15 million users. It is now ready to be implemented and used by customers and financial planners. It is seen as a vital tool with people working on average 11 jobs in their lifetime and struggling to keep on top of their various pension pots.
Anthony Rafferty added “We believe the Pension Dashboard is a superb opportunity for Government and the industry to provide a simple way for UK pension holders in the country to track their pensions, understand their value and what that means for their future and where appropriate, to act on their data in their best interests.
“The DWP Feasibility Study into the Pension Dashboard is expected to be published later this year which we hope will reflect the strong support the initiative has both within the industry and with consumers.”
Open banking: Catalyst for collaboration and partnership
Open Banking – the challenge
Opening Banking was a popular theme at the annual Scottish Fintech conference and it was analysed from numerous angles e.g. likely changes in the market landscape that might be triggered by Open Banking, how banks are losing the control over the purchasing process of financial products, and PS2D regulation.
During the conference, Phill Gillespie from Money Dashboard and I had the opportunity to host a workshop about Open Banking and the API ecosystem in the FS industry.
The underlying challenge we face in the FS industry is plain and simple”¦for most people FINANCES ARE BORING! But it is also true that without financial products we would not be able to protect ourselves and our families, we would not be able to sustain our lifestyle or achieve our personal goals. We do not think how cool buying a insurance is and we certainly do not brag with our friends about our pension plan, but we need these products because we want to travel safely and enjoy our retirement.
The power to re-organise the industry
At Inbest.ai, we think that Open Banking will allow companies to place FS products and services where they belong, co-piloting our lives and checking that we are taking the right decisions to protect our families, maintain our lifestyles or make our hard-earned salaries go further.
FS companies must be humble and flexible to seamlessly embed their propositions into the products and services we use throughout our lives i.e. banking should be a mean to improve our lives, not a goal on its own. To deliver this strategy, FS companies should understand intimately customers’ needs and behaviours as well as collaborate with companies in other industries to distribute their products and services. If FS companies keep working in isolation, non-financial players with large Balance Sheets will be more than happy to fill this market gap, as Bill Gates famously stated, “Banking is necessary, banks are not”.
Another alternative will be reducing their front-line exposure and focusing on a core part of the banking stack e.g. trading, foreign exchange, settlement. To succeed in this strategy, these specialised banking services should be easy to consume by companies that are downstream in the value chain.
All in all, regardless of the strategic route, partnering and collaborating should be a core foundation on the way modern FS providers operate, and APIs are the technological framework that makes this possible. FS providers should embrace the use of APIs across their different teams and divisions as well as with their suppliers and customers.
Want to find out more?
Inbest.ai is on a mission to automate, simplify and personalise long-term financial planning to make financial advice & guidance accessible and affordable. APIs are the backbone of our company and we use them not only to build, market and sell our Financial Planning platform but also to manage our business.