Open Banking + Open Pensions = Open Finances?

For the past 20 years, I have worked for a number of financial services providers and have seen a dramatic change in the way that these businesses deploy technology. Back in the late 90s, I worked for a forward-thinking group that moved the sales process from paper-based to software-based. Huge roll out across the UK improving compliance, reducing risk, reducing costs and improving accuracy and of course, all of that made the sales process more interactive for customers.

I am one of the people in the industry that remembers life before the internet....sending my first text message ( and who I sent it too!). Today the technology solutions available to providers and our customers are light years ahead of that first simple packet of text. Today we are all looking at how we can connect....with our customers and with our data sources and of course with Web sites and APPs. Its almost just expected that this digital integration is available on your smartphone 24/7.

And so now we need to focus on data quality and accuracy more than ever. The old adage of rubbish in rubbish out must force all involved to cleans all data we are supplied with and move to a common quality. Auto Enrolment had an opportunity to do just that but it was a missed chance as no single common data standard was adopted. Payroll Data Interface Standards (PAPDIS) did not get universal acceptance which would today have given all Payroll and all Pension providers that common language in data communication. Shame we miss that opportunity. And now Dashboard yes I wrote the singular ie one Dashboard as we need to think of the "plumbing" and data requirements as a singular approach.

We also need to have an Open API ( Application Program Interface) technology at the heart of any system. So how we get that data needs to be a common data standard as well. But with no commonality of terminology across Pension Providers Banks and Payroll Providers, how do we get clear accurate data in order to display this back to the customer to drive better awareness of:

1. What have I got today?
2. Is it enough?
3. What should I do next?

The 3 big questions facing everyone who is saving for the future. More and more we see customers adopting a brand that is aligned to their values. Once that brand is selected, loyalty and trust builds. Trust is based on a number of factors such as transparency and brand perception but also on accuracy. Just getting my name right has this week been a challenge for the brand I trusted to buy a car from apparently I am Mr Davies. At some point, a database has been changed with duff information. How did that make me feel?

So connecting an employers payroll with its Wellbeing provider and its HR software with HMRC (under RTI) is great. The other way round customers select a brand such as a bank and increasingly want to see all there finances in one place. Open Banking is driving that change in data sharing. In order to do this well the data we all hold needs to be up to date and accurate. Dashboard is the next big project that can compel data standards and quality and I watch with interest to see if Project Dashboard will have compulsion at its heart and a common data standard.

Meantime the quality of data held by pension providers and payroll must be improved.

• TPR want to drive standards up.

https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/media-hub/press-releases/crackdown-begins-on-poor-record-keeping-by-schemes

• Dashboard will depend on quality data.

https://www.professionalpensions.com/news/4009464/opperman-urges-schemes-act-prepare-dashboard