Last week Benefits Guru published the 2022 Financial Wellness Ratings to help providers, employees and advisers stay up to date on this fast-moving market, whilst also encouraging further innovation in financial wellness propositions. 

Aviva took part in both sets of ratings, which looked in detail at its Financial Wellness offerings with and without Open Finance.

Overall gold medals we achieved for 5 out of 6 entries – with the Aviva Designer offering scoring an overall silver award in the Financial Wellness without Open Finance category. 

This insight takes a deeper dive into how Aviva scored

Financial Education (Generic content):

All three Aviva products provide a wide range of generic financial education to their members.

This includes information on what a pension is, the state pension, death benefits, investment options, budgeting, savings and wills.

This is delivered via online support, face-to-face sessions, video content and the mobile app. They also have the ability to host bespoke content provided by the employer.

Financial Education (Personalised content):

All three Aviva products provide a wide range of personalised financial education to their members, which is based on their age, retirement date, family status and financial position.

This includes information on what a pension is, the state pension, death benefits, investment options, budgeting, savings and wills.

This is delivered via online support, face-to-face sessions, video content and the mobile app. They also have the ability to host bespoke content provided by the employer.

Research and Educational Events:

 

Aviva conduct their own research in order to gain a better understanding of what their users want from a financial wellness program.

This includes questionnaires, interviews, case studies and focus group with their members, employer clients, advisers and the general public.

They also host financial wellness events for advisers, employers and members and have a dedicated financial wellness team.

 

.,Emergency Cash Fund:

Aviva are one of the few providers to offer a facility to help members create an Emergency Cash Fund (ECF), although this is not yet based on data provided via their open banking service.

Funds can be invested in a combination of an ISA, GIA or cash account.

Aviva also provide educational / learning literature about why an ECF is important via the online member portal and via face-to-face sessions. Unlike the Designer offering, My Money and My Money Master Trust allow payments to be made by the employer into this plan, i.e., they can redirect payments which are above the Auto-Enrolment min requirements.

Open Finance:

Aviva have partnered with a Bud to deliver open finance technology via their workplace pension proposition, at no additional cost of the member or employer.

This will include data from current/savings accounts and credit cards, including partner and joint accounts.

They can connect with all high street and some of the newer challenger banks. There is no limit to the number of accounts which can be connected, and they will automatically categorise all transactions.

Aviva use the open banking data to help drive better personalised financial outcomes for the end user with intelligent messages to help with spending, saving and debt.

We will be publishing standalone Open Finance ratings tomorrow and will drill deeper into the Aviva functionality in the coming days.