“It’s going to take a coalition of the willing to tackle the issue of vulnerability,” according to Andy Curran, chief executive of Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group.
Speaking to FT Adviser at the Phoenix Vulnerability Summit today (February 22) Curran spoke about why client vulnerability is such a key issue and what can be done to help vulnerable people.
He said: “The way we think about health is a combination of your physical health, mental health and your financial health and the cost-of-living crisis has impacted all three.”
Curran also highlighted the UK has an ageing population but said an individual can feel disconnected from their finances because they find it difficult to understand what has an impact on them in later life.
“We have a job to do when focusing on the financial wellbeing aspect of vulnerability. It is to bring people’s attention to this issue quickly in a way that is digestible and easy to understand which should then help individuals with their mental and physical health,” he added.
Curran believed there was more of a raised awareness for vulnerability now than there was 30 years ago, however understanding it and doing something about it was the challenge.
He said: “You’re not always vulnerable, you can be vulnerable at certain points of your life so as an industry how do we think about that?
“Compared to 30 years ago there is definitely more awareness but we have a long way to go to manage it and the problem is getting bigger, not smaller.”
Focus needed for unadvised people
Curran believed financial advisers have a good understanding of what their vulnerable clients need and provide a huge support to them.
However, his concern was the large majority of the population who are unable to access financial advice but still need support during the vulnerable periods in life.
“My worry is only a small percentage of people get financial advice and so what happens to the people who are struggling to know what to do and who to turn to.
“Companies like ours [Standard Life] have to be able to communicate with these people in a way that is meaningful.”
Curran stressed the need for the industry to build relationships with the people who are not currently getting advice.
He said: “Those people who are not being looked after and who don’t get advice have questions that we need to answer when it comes to their finances.”
Curran also believed the FCA needed to do more to engage with the majority of the population who cannot access financial advice but still find themselves financially vulnerable.
“I would say to the FCA as a regulator of the industry you can’t be happy only 10 per cent of people are getting financial advice, you’ve got to think about the whole population.”
Collaborative approach needed
Curran felt product providers such as Standard Life are well placed to help those people who cannot access financial advice, and through collaboration with regulators and government, can help to fix the problem.
“I am not saying we are better placed than advisers or anyone else to provide help and advisers do a huge amount of work in their communities to get people thinking about their finances. But companies like Standard Life have a natural reach through their policyholders.
“Others with a natural reach should be doing what they can and the industry as a whole should be supportive of that. My focus is not those who receive financial advice but those who can’t because typically they will be the most vulnerable,” added Curran.
Curran said vulnerability can manifest itself in all different shapes and sizes and people from different sectors have different perspectives and experiences of it and having collaboration between government, businesses and the third sector will help to tackle it.
He said: “First you need to understand the problem then you need to understand the problem is not a single issue and it can emerge in different ways. Then we need to have that coalition of the willing and determined across the sectors to do something about it.
“It’s about bringing people together who can make a difference because it is easy to give up, it is a big problem, and no single institution is going to solve it.”
alina.khan@ft.com
