Financial Conduct Authority proposals for a ‘pensions dashboard’ that brings together an individual’s various strands of retirement income in one place has been welcomed by the industry, although many stated they already had similar tools in place.
The FCA’s retirement market income study, published yesterday (11 December), suggested that it could be accessed by UK consumers at any time through a personal log-in, setting out accumulated defined contribution pension savings, state pension and other assets.
“We are aware that this idea has been raised in the past and we recognise the challenges in implementation and cost for such a project. However it has been successful in other countries, and we believe that the case for introducing it in the UK is getting stronger,” read the report.
David Macmillan, managing director at Aegon, pointed out that its Retiready service already allows people to see all their savings in one place and the firm is making enhancements to extend it beyond the non-advised customers it currently serves.
“We launched Retiready in April for non-advised customers, which allows people to pull in information about their savings and is effectively a pensions dashboard which provides people with a score to show them how on track towards their retirement goals they are.
“We believe the idea of a pensions dashboard is essential, and are making enhancements to our Retiready digital service to allow advisers, and employees in workplace schemes to use the service in the same way in order to get the full picture of what all of their savings or those of their clients are worth.”
Morten Nilsson, chief executive at Now: Pensions, explained that in his and the scheme’s native Denmark, the PensionsInfo service allows savers to log onto a secure website using their social security number and view their state entitlements along with the amount they have saved in all of their others schemes.
“While the development of a pensions dashboard in the UK will be complex due to the high number of pension providers in the market – done successfully it will build engagement and encourage savers to think about consolidating their own pension pots.”
Darren Philp, director of policy and market engagement at The People’s Pension, said that he has long suggested a pensions register.
“People simply need to have an oversight of what savings they have, and where they are, before making such a big decision.
“We’re pleased that the FCA made this proposal in its report and believe that a pensions register or dashboard is a crucial piece of the jigsaw in making the government’s Budget changes work.”
Mark Stopard, head of product development at Partnership, added that as a founder member of the Pension Income Choice Association, the firm was particularly pleased at the plans.
“Allowing people to view all their pension information together will not only ensure that they can make informed decisions but will also encourage them to take a considered look at all their options at retirement.”
Francois Barker, head of pensions at law firm Eversheds, also welcomed the proposals, but with a key caveat. “A similar tool has been developed in the Netherlands and works extremely well. A tool such as this could also be linked to the online guidance guarantee service to encourage individuals to make use of this.
“But the key question is, who is going to build it?”
peter.walker@ft.com
