"It’s going to be so good for UK consumers to have so many opportunities to see their total pension position on whichever is their favourite and most trusted app."
- Volunteer Dashboard Operators Coalition chair, Richard Smith
Fidelity International, Mercer, Penny and Pension Lab have all joined the industry coalition of potential operators of commercial pensions dashboards, working with government and regulators to help support the launch of multiple dashboards for UK consumers.
Dashboards provide consumers with a consolidated view of their pensions, making it easier to track and manage their retirement savings and make informed decisions about their retirement.
This brings consumers’ choice of potential dashboards to 15 (including the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard from the Money and Pensions Service).
The existing ten member firms of the coalition are: Aviva, Just Group, Legal & General, Mintago, Moneybox, Moneyhub, NatWest Cushon, Scottish Widows, Smart Pension, and Standard Life.
Fidelity International supports retail and workplace savers with their plans for retirement. To help them achieve their financial goals, Fidelity will explore opportunities to offer savers a single, consolidated view of their pension wealth through its online services, via a commercial pensions dashboard - made available through its platforms.
For the Mercer DC Master Trust’s 250,000 members, communication and engagement are already supported by the open banking app, Mercer Money. Mercer is now looking to further enhance this by adding in a commercial pensions dashboard. Mercer also recently announced its intention to acquire Cardano, including NOW: Pensions, which has an additional 2.4 million members.
Penny is a fintech designed to simplify retirement planning and make saving for the future easier. The company’s technology makes it seamless for individuals to locate and consolidate their pension pots. Penny intends to include a Qualifying Pensions Dashboard Service (QPDS) within its app.
Pension Lab is a provider of white-labelled pension transfer and consolidation dashboards. Pension Lab’s technology simplifies complex processes and automates essential tasks such as Letters of Authority (LoAs). The company now aims to extend its FCA permissions to become an authorised QPDS operator.
The timetable for pension providers and schemes set out in guidance will see connection for wider industry starting from April 2025, with volunteer participants connecting from August 2024.
Volunteer Dashboard Operators Coalition chair and independent dashboards consultant, Richard Smith, said: "Especially since the onset of the FCA’s Consumer Duty requirements, more and more pension providers are deciding they can only properly help their customers with retirement planning if they can show them all the pensions they’ve got, together.
“It’s going to be so good for UK consumers to have so many opportunities to see their total pension position on whichever is their favourite and most trusted app, emulating the success on this we’ve seen in Norway. Soon, providers who don’t intend to offer a QPDS will be the exception.”
