Cashflow planning software provider CashCalc has teamed up with two firms offering defined benefit (DB) triage educational content, whose services will be available to some of its clients.
The services will be integrated in the provider’s transfer value comparator (TVC) and appropriate pension transfer analysis (Apta) tool, recently launched after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) new rules came into force in October.
In January, financial advisers will need to introduce new rules for triage, proposed earlier this year.
This was after the watchdog found a "lack of understanding" among advisers about the boundaries between guidance and advice in a consultation on how firms can provide an appropriate triage service that gives factual and generic information without stepping across the advice boundary.
The watchdog said if triage was to be a non-advised service, it should be an educational process so that consumers can decide whether to proceed to regulated advice.
It warned considering a client’s personal circumstances in any way counted as advice when it comes to pension transfers.
According to Ian Beestin, co-founder of Money Alive – which has developed triage educational video service Final Salary Portal - CashCalc’s “ethos of working collaboratively to help advisers achieve superior client experiences and outcomes resonates strongly” with the firm.
He said: "Our award winning adviser portal is hitting a sweet spot with advisers and their clients alike. It’s easy to use and enables advisers to deliver engaging, [Pensions Management Institute] PMI accredited video journeys to clients whilst providing advisers with detailed analytics of their client’s engagement.
“Developed by pension and technology experts, with ongoing input from experienced financial services lawyers and professional indemnity insurance brokers, it’s a scalable solution that can help advisers reduce their regulatory and commercial risk.”
John Reynolds, chartered financial planner at Expert Pensions, which also has an triage video service for adviser clients, said: “Education is in our DNA and our reputation for successful online virtual learning is well established in the community of IFAs.
“Extending our successful online learning expertise into non-advised educational tutorials for your clients is a natural extension of our expertise. The future for financial planning is exciting: education and then advice.
“Expert Pensions is delighted to be working in collaboration with CashCalc to help empower the community of IFAs and their clients through the use of digital learning technology to make informed decisions."
Ray Adams, director and chartered financial planner at CashCalc, said that he is “an advocate of using all the technologies available”.
He added: “It is therefore fantastic to partner up with Money Alive and Expert Pensions and demonstrates that you don’t necessarily need to integrate in order to help.
“The initial aim of this partnership here is to simply make our users aware of the triage services currently on offer and enable them to link across if they wish”.
maria.espadinha@ft.com
