5th September 2014

Platforms and the retirement market

For advisers, the retirement proposition of the future will have a greater focus on farming the needs of existing clients who have been identified by effective segmentation and life-stage marketing.

This understanding ensures a more in-depth dialogue with the client which builds the trust and relationship which is needed to be the adviser of choice, who can guide a client to and through retirement. This allows greater access to assets, aiding the consolidation process.

This all enhances profitability as you’re promoting the right message to the right people at the right time, cutting out unnecessary engagement with clients who don't want, desire or meet the requirements of your retirement client proposition.

To ensure maximum profitability and ease of process, effective use of modern technology such as platforms is key.

There are five key areas that need to be reflected on when deciding on a platform and its impact and use in, and for, your business:


• What are the needs of your clients now and in the future? This should be clear if effective segmentation and propositional development has taken place.
• The answer to this will make it clear if they and your business need a platform.
• And when a platform is required you need to decide does your business need more than one to satisfy the needs of your clients and to support your business proposition?
• Remember the FCA drive towards transparency - when you have a platform do your clients understand the costs and are these communicated effectively?
• The overriding principle has to be does the platform or platforms satisfy your client’s needs?

It's essential to think of how any platform meets the needs of clients, not just now but in the future. At each of our life-stage milestones we need advice. Also research is now showing most savings of the future will be in the workplace.

Auto-enrolment will drive this and many savers are unlikely to be a personal client of advisers at the moment.

However, as assets grow the potential for private client advice grows with it.
Does your platform help you take advantage of this workplace savings opportunity and does it also allow you to provide advice for clients up to, and essentially through, retirement?

Any platform needs to be flexible enough to meet the challenges and opportunities of the journey of clients where in the accumulation stage, the pension is but one of their concerns and asset accumulation can be achieved in other ways such as ISA’s, collectives and unit-linked guarantees.

Decumulation will also be a key client requirement - how effectively can your proposition and technology deliver on this client need?

Aegon is the only provider in the UK who can deliver all of those things on a single platform.

Remember having the flexibility to adapt to this changing advice landscape also helps clients have one view of their wealth and encourages not only investment accumulation but asset consolidation.

So, if platforms are the tool that can make all this possible, do you have the right one and are you using it effectively?