Standard Life has launched its second Innovation Forum in a bid to develop solutions that will boost customer engagement and access to responsible investing.
The savings and retirement specialist is calling upon FinTechs to pitch and develop solutions that will help pension customers to engage more fully with their investments and in particular, environmental, social and governance factors. Each short-listed participant will work closely with a Standard Life mentor to refine their proposition and the winner will partner with Standard Life to roll out its solution to more than three million customers.
Standard Life said ideas may include ways to bring to life how customer pensions are invested, how to assess investments from an ESG perspective or the impact that investing responsibly now can deliver in the future.
The initiative involves a five-way collaboration with TCS’s Co-Innovation Network innovation ecosystem, Fintech Scotland, Women in Banking & Finance and Scottish Financial Enterprise.
Last year’s Forum was won by Edinburgh-based Behavioural Finance which uses psychometric testing to enable users to see how their personality will affect their relationship with money. Standard Life plans to introduce the wealth personality test they developed to a number of customers, before rolling it out more widely later this year.
Standard Life’s managing director, pensions and savings, Colin Williams, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Standard Life to connect with creative thinkers to enhance our proposition development and better support customers to engage with their investments and understand the impact they have on the world. This is key to our Group’s wider social purpose and sustainability strategy and follows the transition of £15bn of workplace assets to our new sustainable default fund.”
Nicola Anderson, chief executive of Fintech Scotland, added: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Standard Life and Phoenix Group for a second year in a row to bring innovation and better outcomes to its customers. The first iteration of their Innovation Forum in 2022 was a real success.
“This year, they’ve set themselves an even bigger challenge as they’re looking to bring more innovation to ESG investing. Customer outcomes are directly linked to environmental and social issues, and vice versa – bringing this relationship to life is vital as we move towards a net zero future. At FinTech Scotland we identified Climate as one of the 4 key areas of focus in our Research and Innovation Roadmap and this innovation challenge will help us achieve our goal to move towards greener finance and have the sector contribute to the net zero agenda.”
