Launch plans follow the publication of the Financial Conduct Authority’s dashboard regulations last week.
The financial services firm announced today that it intends to launch an “industry leading” dashboard offering.
It follows the publication last week of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) regulatory framework for dashboards and dashboard operators.
The government currently plans to launch a dashboard operated by the Money and Pensions Service before opening up the market to commercial operators.
Nick Roy, director of client and partnership development at Aegon, said: “Dashboards will be a gamechanger in how people engage with their pension savings, so we are focused on enhancing our customer offering and supporting better customer outcomes.
“We are assessing options that will allow us to ensure our dashboard meets and exceeds our customers’ needs. This considered approach will enable us to make our dashboard industry leading.”
He added: “Ensuring that we support customers at key life moments is at the heart of Aegon’s strategy and our aspiration is to be their pension partner for life by offering market-leading personalised support to and through retirement.”
FCA rules go live
The FCA published the first iteration of its dashboards rules last week, setting out the regulations for dashboard operators.
The regulator stated that it wanted dashboards to help consumers “confidently and positively engage with their pensions and be safely supported in retirement planning”.
It also acknowledged that dashboards were likely to evolve over time into “something more sophisticated”, requiring flexibility in the rules and the ability to revisit them later.
The FCA said: “If consumers lose confidence in dashboards, due to firms not acting in consumers’ best interests, we risk losing the opportunities dashboards offer and the ability to build on this in the future.
“So, it is important that our framework has adequate safeguards to limit these risks from the start.
“However, if our standards are too stringent, we may prevent desirable innovation that helps consumers and deter reputable firms from entering the market.
“In turn, this could limit opportunities for consumers to meaningfully engage with their pensions.”
It said its proposal was “proportionate for the first iteration of dashboards”.
Mike Ambery, retirement savings director at Standard Life, said the FCA’s rules provided a “degree of regulatory certainty” for potential dashboard providers, but argued that the regulator had missed an opportunity to take a cautious approach to development timescales.
“The document does note that these are the initial versions of the rules and there is space in future for iterating and refining, so we look forward to seeing them evolve,” he added.
Further reading
Aon’s dashboard approach and the importance of DC income (4 November 2024)
The importance of trust for dashboard success (10 October 2024)
DWP confirms timeline for dashboard connectivity (26 March 2024)
