A huge opportunity awaits the pensions sector. According to MoretoSipps, the SIPP market is projected to grow by 50 percent from £500bn to £750bn over the next five years.
But at the same time, pension providers face a whole host of deepening challenges, from constrained productivity and time pressures to a creeping regulatory burden and increasingly complex administration tasks. Not to mention the revolving door of pensions tax changes, more of which we might see in the fast-approaching Autumn Budget.
If businesses are to overcome these obstacles to growth and enjoy the rewards that a bigger SIPP market could bring, they will need to get innovative.
WealthOS aims to tease out what that might look like in practice during a roundtable discussion at the Retirement Matters one-day conference, hosted by Owen James in London this September.
Let’s talk: a roundtable focused on competition, efficiency and automation
Titled Is your retirement proposition more Netflix or Blockbuster?, the session featuring WealthOS’ Co-founder and CEO Anton Padmasiri and CCO Shri Krishnansen, FIA is set to explore the following themes:
- Customer expectations and how pension providers can deliver seamless experiences, just like those offered by tech giants such as Uber, Amazon and Netflix.
- Automation and why it’s essential in the drive to raise productivity and profitability.
- Products and the most effective way to combine them to help customers make their life savings go further.
- C-suite and the need for senior leaders to harness the power of technology to stay ahead of competition and overcome legacy platform inefficiencies.
- Opportunity and why pension providers need to prioritise enhancing their retirement propositions if they are to benefit from the growth of the SIPP market.
Common challenges: obstacles to pension transformation
Previous Owen James events this year have gauged sentiment among financial services professionals and some recurring themes have emerged.
For instance, at conferences attended by distributors, wealth management and private banking professionals and financial advisers, time – or a lack of it – was a top issue.
Another major challenge identified was the management of data. Indeed, one attendee of a WealthTech Matters conference in July had this to say when asked what would make their job easier:
“Clean, accurate, automated data collection that you don’t have to question. Better integration between third-party systems and standardisation of data.”
Additionally, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the evolution of regulation was a top-five concern among all three audiences due to its potential cost to business and impact on productivity.
Insights exchange: talk to WealthOS about new approaches
At WealthOS, it’s fascinating to see these conversations play out. And when you take a step back, it seems clear that many of the problems facing pension providers stem from outdated processes and technology.
Talking of which, you may find our recent blog on interoperability useful. It delves into the cost and practical implications of incompatible computer systems in an era when consumers are demanding ever-greater connectivity between financial products.
The solution, therefore, lies in a new approach. If we look at how other sectors have used digital tools to overcome challenges, the shape of that approach begins to emerge.
But never mind what we think. What are your thoughts? If you’ve registered for Retirement Matters, do come and listen to the tech roundtable and share your ideas. And if you’re not planning to attend, to drop us a line.
We’d love to exchange insights on innovation in pensions.
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Interested?
Retirement Matters takes place on September 25 at the Royal College of Physicians in London. Further details can be found here.