The financial industry faces regulatory hurdles to meet the needs of increasingly technologically savvy consumers, according to the new chairman of Tisa’s technology innovation policy council.
Bill Wrest has been appointed with a remit to consider how the digitisation of financial services can be used to change consumer behaviour, increase engagement and help drive up the levels of personal savings in the UK.
He said: “The pace of the digitisation of financial services is set to increase sharply as providers, advisers and distributors develop innovative solutions to meet the needs of technology savvy consumers in a world increasingly driven by social media.
“This is creating exciting opportunities – particularly on the back of the new pension freedoms – however we still face many challenges, not least to overcome any regulatory hurdles and increasing consumer engagement in personal savings.”
Mr Wrest, who is head of innovation at Moneycorp, said the policy council will look at how best to deal with any barriers to development.
Adviser view
Dennis Hall, chief executive of London-based Yellowtail Financial Planning, said: “From an advice perspective digitisation has its limitations but from a transaction point of view it is clearly the way forward and will bring down cost.”
