Financial wellbeing in financial services

Financial wellbeing is about feeling secure and in control. It is about making the most of your money day to day, dealing with the unexpected, and being on track for a healthy financial future. In short: financially resilient, confident and empowered.

The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is here to ensure everyone feels more in control of their finances throughout their lives; from pocket money to pensions. When they are, communities are healthier, businesses are more prosperous, the economy benefits and individuals feel better off. 

Our services are free to your organisation and your customers – we offer financial guidance, research and partnership to help build financial wellbeing for individuals and organisations. 

MaPS is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions and funded by levies on both the financial services industry and pension schemes.

Together with organisations like yours, we are working to deliver the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing to build this confidence at scale in the UK.

Customers experiencing financial wellbeing can better understand financial products, the risks associated with them, be more confident in making good long-term financial decisions, and avoid falling victim to scams.

Technology has fundamentally changed the way people manage their money. It’s easier than ever to borrow, invest and save. And yet, the financial services sector still faces widespread lack of understanding among customers of financial products and services, debt and basic money management.

• Customer retention: Customers will be more likely to continue to use your service if they can manage their money well.
• Customer acquisition: The more people understand the benefits of financial products and services, the more potential customers you have. Expanding your product proposition to include innovative tools and services to help people manage their money better could help grow your customer base, which will have direct commercial impact.
• Customer value: If a customer can manage their money well, they may be more likely to be able to use a wider range of financial products, which have a higher commercial return for you.
• External reputation: Build your external reputation by showcasing the help you offer customers to improve their skill and confidence to manage their money, and stand out from their competitors to grow their customer base.

Having control over personal finances means that individuals are more resilient when unexpected events happen, they enjoy better physical and mental health, and they’re more able to save for the future.

With more financial stresses and online banking, it’s more important than ever to build customers’ financial wellbeing.

If more people experience financial wellness, they make better financial decisions and choose the correct financial products for their needs. The financial services sector can help deliver this vision and will benefit directly from it.

MaPS can support the financial services sector by providing insight to help you:

• increase your knowledge about customer needs.
• support the business case for introducing financial wellbeing into your organisation, products and services.
• identify gaps in your customer strategy and inform product and market research.

Whether you’re starting on the journey of boosting employee financial wellbeing, or piloting methods like payroll saving, we can support you. 

We offer a wide array of free support to businesses including:

• a dedicated partnership manager based in your location, with managers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and regions across England.
• bespoke support to help you build and implement your financial wellbeing strategy.
• a selection of guides available in English and Welsh, and in print, braille or audio format, for free
• a help with the cost of living hub featuring articles, tools, calculators and a printable guide to support your colleagues and customers.
• our annual Talk Money Week awareness campaign, which provides a platform for conversations about money in all walks of life.

The Savings Charter is a set of commitments that savings providers can sign up to, in order to help raise the profile of savings in the UK. The Charter offers savings providers the opportunity to amplify what they are already doing to raise the profile of saving and to signal what they intend to do, in line with one or more of five commitments.

Learn more about how the Savings Charter could help you to improve customer financial wellbeing.

Contact our regional partnerships team for free support and practical ways to help you build financial wellbeing across your organisation.

Based near you, our partnerships teams can help bring your organisation an understanding of some of the local financial wellbeing challenges.

If your organisation has multiple sites, please contact the regional manager closest to your head office.