Industry news
Smarterly rebranding
IN EARLY July, the fintech workplace savings business, Smarterly, changed its name to Cushon shortly after entering the pension market through the acquisition of the Salvus Master Trust. The company offers a range of payroll-enabled workplace savings products, and was the first to introduce a payroll-enabled lifetime ISA (individual savings account) and to offer a mobile app that allows saving via payroll. Ben Pollard, founder, said: “We’re super excited about our new name and getting stuck into pensions to disrupt the status quo. We’ve got some very cool tech announcements in the pipeline, so watch this space.” Phil Hollingdale, co-founder, said: “we will be shortly launching our new pension product and other exciting new tech developments. We have evolved and we want our name to reflect this.”
Cushon‘s financial resilience research conducted in May 2020 reveals: ● 91% of employers felt that their employees had woken up to the importance of having a savings pot to help when unexpected events occur ● 84% felt that they should help their employees build accessible savings ● 93% would now consider setting up a workplace savings scheme to help foster better savings habits in addition to a pension scheme, and ● 57% of employees said if their employer set-up a workplace savings scheme during the Covid-19 crisis, which they could pay into directly from their salary and they could afford it, they would take up the offer.
Wagestreamworking with Visa WAGESTREAM, A leading financial wellness company, which gives workers instant access to their earned wages before payday, has become the first income streaming company across Europe to work with Visa delivering access to earned wages in real time, through the integration of Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time push payments platform. This will give employees more flexibility and transparency into their finances and the benefit of the speed and security of the global Visa network. The move adds significant scale to Wagestream’s expanding global footprint. Peter Briffett, chief executive officer and co-founder of Wagestream, commented: “Our partnership with Visa is going to improve the flexibility of income streaming even further, by empowering our platform across Europe and allowing workers to choose which account they want to stream their money into. “On demand access to money that has already been earned will become a right, not privilege, and it is going to play a critical role in alleviating financial stress, particularly among those on lower incomes.” Bill Sheley, senior vice president and global head of Visa Direct, said: “it’s more important than ever that we find ways to support workers on the frontlines, helping them get faster access to their money when they need it in order to pay for life’s necessities. “We’re proud to be working with Wagestream to offer their users more control of their finances, especially during these challenging times.” RetirementMatters launched THE PENSIONS Management Institute (PMI) has announced the launch of RetirementMatters, a new financial education and guidance service provided by WEALTH at work. The service, which has been designed to support employees and pension scheme members approaching retirement, aims to help them understand how to make the most of their pensions and savings in order to make informed decisions about their retirement. RetirementMatters will offer a range of options from classroom workshops and online seminars through to 1:1 guidance whether face to face, telephone or virtually, and digital content. Gareth Tancred, PMI’s chief executive, comments: “The PMI … are pleased to be able to support trustees, schemes and employers through the provision of the retirement-focused financial education and guidance service provided by WEALTH at work.” “Not only does this help us achieve our fourth objective of our five-year plan to make a difference to the economy and society, but it helps pension savers make well-informed decisions which will lead to improvements in their overall financial wellbeing.” #Giftcard500 campaign RETAILERS AND gift card operators are supporting the #GiftCard500 campaign, launched in July, that could deliver a huge boost to Britain’s beleaguered high street and safeguard thousands of jobs. The campaign, spearheaded by the Gift Card & Voucher Association (GCVA), is calling on the government to increase the tax-free employer gifting allowance from £50 to £500. The campaign is encouraging employers to use gift cards – which are now a £7 billion per year industry – to thank staff for their hard work over the past few months of COVID-19 uncertainty. Gail Cohen, director general of the GCVA, commented: “If the tax-free limit for employee gifting was to be raised permanently, and even just a small portion of businesses took advantage of the new legislation to thank their loyal staff, millions of shoppers would have money in their pocket which, when spent, could be worth billions to struggling UK businesses just when they need it the most.” An online petition (https://bit.ly/2DD76bP) has also been launched to lobby the government to make this change.
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | September 2020 | Issue 63 36
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