Private sector dashboards must be facilitated “without delay”, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), to ensure savers can benefit from additional visibility and accessibility of their retirement savings.
In a new report, the trade body has urged the government to support the launch of dashboards from private sector providers, including insurers.
This would help reach more consumers and provide additional services beyond the current “view only” approach, it said.
The government-backed MoneyHelper dashboard – run by the Money and Pensions Service – is due to begin user testing this summer. Administrators and pension providers have been connecting to the dashboards ecosystem over the past several weeks as the first two connection deadlines have passed.
“We urge the government to publicly reaffirm [its] commitment to enabling a flourishing market of private sector dashboards, alongside an indicative timeline of the key milestones towards making this a reality.”
Association of British Insurers
However, private sector dashboard providers face a high bar to comply with the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) planned regulations. The Pensions Dashboards Operators Coalition, a voluntary organisation involving 15 potential dashboard providers, was disbanded earlier this year amid concerns that the rules were too onerous.
The report acknowledged that the successful development of private sector dashboards “would require FCA and other rules to change”.
The ABI’s report called for the government to set out “an indicative timeline” for private sector dashboards to help firms plan.
Full development of a dashboard could take up to three years, the report said, meaning clarification and support was needed as soon as possible. Without it, no further dashboards were likely to be launched within the current parliamentary period, the ABI warned.
“We would urge the government to publicly reaffirm [its] commitment to enabling a flourishing market of private sector dashboards, alongside providing an indicative timeline of the key milestones towards making this a reality,” the ABI said.
“This timeline should include an expected timeframe in which the application window [for regulatory approval] is expected to open.”
Why dashboard choice is important
The ABI warned that, without private sector alternatives to the MoneyHelper dashboard, “the government’s cost benefit analysis of the programme comes into question”. This included the Department for Work and Pensions’ estimates of the benefits of reconnecting people with ‘lost’ pension pots.
The trade body pointed out that the MoneyHelper dashboard was currently only being offered through a web portal, with no plans to develop an app for smartphones or tablets. This could limit the take-up of the government-backed dashboard, the ABI said.
While the insurance trade body supported the MoneyHelper dashboard’s development and praised the work of the Money and Pensions Service, it also contended that additional providers would be able to provide more services and extend the reach of the dashboards system.
As well as extending the reach of dashboards by offering apps, the ABI’s report explained that private sector dashboard providers could also help consumers get a fuller view of their finances by bringing in other information from banking apps, for example.
“Permitting data export and more post-view services in limited and controlled situations would mean that firms offering pensions dashboards could offer regulated financial advice and, in future, targeted support – where they are authorised to do so,” the report stated.
Such additional services would use of consumers’ pension information and other data “to help them make key decisions about their pension”, the ABI said, in line with one of the original aims of the pensions dashboards concept.
