The workplace pensions market has seen huge change "but where we would like to see the market focus is fundamentally on good member outcomes", Aegon's Ronnie Taylor has told FTAdviser.
When asked about the future of the workplace pensions markets over the next five years, Mr Taylor, who joined Aegon earlier this year as chief distribution officer from Scottish Widows, said: "We have seen huge change, with auto-enrolment, pension freedoms and the Retail Distribution Review. We think the big building blocks are now in place.
"We will see more change, there is no doubt about that, but where we would like to see the market focus is fundamentally on good member outcomes."
He posed the questions: "So how do we have more contemporary engagement? How do we have more relevant investment solutions?
"And how do we work together on governance of workplace arrangements that really give actionable insight for employers and trustees?"
We are looking at various ways, through digital telephony guidance, that we can help explain to customers the advantages of being in a pension.Ronnie TaylorMr Taylor acknowledged that while awareness of workplace pensions had increased and there are now more than nine million individuals saving into a workplace pension scheme as a result of auto-enrolment, at the same time it is now harder for those same people to get financial advice.
"The bar for getting advice, the number of advisers available in the UK, has shrunk," he observed.
He said one of the main issues was how to communicate more effectively with customers.
"We are looking at various ways, through digital telephony guidance, that we can help explain to customers the advantages of being in a pension and the choices they are going to have throughout their retirement journey," Mr Taylor told FTAdviser.
Aegon completed its acquisition of BlackRock's defined contribution (DC) pension platform in July, having purchased the business back in 2016.
Mr Taylor confirmed it was a "major building block" for Aegon.
"What we are going to be doing over the next 18 months is bringing the best of both worlds from BlackRock and Aegon to the market.
"So we are going to be talking about that over the next few months, and also some of the ideas we have got globally around how workplace works elsewhere within the Aegon group, bring some of those ideas to the UK," he added.
In August this year, FTAdviser reported The Pensions Regulator had taken enforcement action against 2,000 firms a week for failing to comply with their workplace pension duties.
Asked whether these incidents had tarnished the industry, Mr Taylor admitted: "I think, to a degree, any form of malpractice or anything where members are suffering then that can’t be good for the industry.
"But I think within the pensions industry we have got to keep raising the bar on quality standards, governance, disclosure, compliance."
eleanor.duncan@ft.com
