We have benchmarked Standard Life’s new Money Mindset Open Finance platform and they achieved Gold awards across the board! The standalone Open Finance ratings look at six separate areas of an Open Finance offering, and Standard Life scored gold awards in all six areas – well done to all at Standard Life.
Account connectivity: Using Open Finance technology Standard Life can connect multiple accounts for their users. This includes current accounts, savings accounts, and credit cards. They can use Open Finance to retrieve account data from all 18 high street and challenger banks we have in our analysis, which includes all the main banks and credit card providers. Unlike some others, Standard Life can allow users to connect not only their own banking, saving and credit card accounts, but also those in a joint name or a partners account, meaning that a true household view can be given.
Transaction history and categorisation: When an account has been linked to Standard Life, on average, 12 months of transaction history will be made able. The transaction history is captured automatically, and they will categorise each transaction accordingly (they have unlimited categories, but the user cannot add their own). If a transaction from a specific merchant is manually re-categorised, Standard Life will update and re-categorise all previous transactions from that merchant and all new ones going forward. Users are able to carry out a search by category, over specific date ranges and show an aggregated total spend.
Consent: Open banking requires members to give their consent for data to be shared. Standard Life will automatically notify the user to renew their open banking consent every 90 days via push notifications and will follow up with reminders if not actioned accordingly. If the consent is not renewed after 90 days, the account will remain active and keep all transaction history until consent is confirmed.
Messaging and outcomes: Standard Life will use data from Open Finance to help drive better personalised financial outcomes for their members. This includes intelligent messaging or nudges for spending, saving and debt management. Messages are delivered to the member as push notifications via the app and portal.
Amy Johnson, Head of Customer Proposition at Standard Life has commented; “We recognise our clients are seeking ways to support the financial wellbeing of their employees. Our insight tells us that one of the key challenge’s members face is balancing their day to day finances with saving for retirement and wider saving goals. Through the power of Open Finance our Money Mindset digital service provides an easy way for members to connect and engage with their finances; helping them to budget and take positive steps to increase their saving capacity to meet their financial goals, whilst reaffirming the importance of saving for retirement.” The addition of the new Money Mindset platform has made Standard Life an even more appealing choice for employers who want to provide their staff with a market leading pension proposition and help them manage their money and save for their future.
The full Open Finance and Financial Wellness ratings, along with individual provider factsheets can be accessed HERE