Finance & Technology Research Centre director and Corporate Adviser technology columnist Ian McKenna has been appointed to the Treasury’s pension dashboard steering group.
One of two independent members of the project’s steering group, McKenna’s role will be to provide challenge to the process and project as it develops. The objective is to ensure dashboards include the broadest range of pensions and support the widest possible range of services to deliver better information and services to consumers, both from established pension providers and fintechs.
The steering group will oversee the creation of the underlying systems that enable consumers to see all their pensions in a single place. Policymakers hope this will also help consumers track down £400 million in pension benefits that currently go unclaimed.
The project was launched by Simon Kirby, economic secretary to the Treasury, on September 12 at Aviva’s Digital Garage. Eleven organisations have so far committed resources to support the prototype project: Aviva, Aon Hewitt, B&CE, HSBC, LV=, Nest, Now: Pensions, Royal London, Standard Life, Willis Towers Watson and Zurich, and more are expected to join in the future.
McKenna said: “The pension dashboard needs to bring together a wider range of diverse constituencies. Pension providers of all shapes and sizes are key to the process. It is also essential to include emerging fintech organisation who are delivering innovation to help consumers interact with their pensions, in ways that have never been possible previously. As identified by Ernst & Young recently the UK is now widely recognised as the world’s leading economy in which to incubate new fintech. The dashboard project is a huge opportunity to demonstrate how our global leadership in this important new part of the economy can translate into real benefits for consumers, to help them better understand their savings and plan for their future.
“Having worked extensively with industry players, advisers and technology companies I am well placed to make sure the interests of each group are fully represented.
“It is refreshing to see how committed the Treasury team are to ensuring this is an open, transparent initiative, bringing together the best from the pensions industry and fintech. Their energy, focus and commitment is clearly catalysing an unprecedented level of cross-industry support”.
