PensionSmith, an integrated member web, education and communications platform providing dashboard solutions for pension schemes, launched today in the UK. The firm has been operating in South Africa and Namibia as ‘The Benefit Counsellor’ since 2019.

Jaco Wasserfall, CEO and Founder of PensionSmith commented: “We have spent the last four years expertly developing our platform and are now the leading recognised provider in South Africa. The platform offers tools for member communication, member education, and will add a Pension Dashboard connection that allows members to view and interact with all their pension plans in one safe and secure place. The platform is white labelled allowing each scheme or administrator to very quickly customise and establish an online experience that suits their own unique requirements.

“Our aim is to bring pensions into the digital age with a members first approach. Using tools like WhatsApp, gamified reward systems and interactive visuals such as videos and animation our mission is to educate and empower members. In South Africa we already have over 400,000 active members, with a monthly engagement rate of over 50%. With over 14 million WhatsApp messages sent in the last 12 months, along with over 100,000 member chats, our statistics clearly demonstrate that providing members with fingertip access to their pensions really does engage and empower them to take an active role in their finances.”

Wasserfall added: “Implementing any kind of technology does not come without challenges, but dashboard in particular has some unique hurdles, which is clearly why the UK rollout has been delayed. Having experienced and overcome similar challenges in South Africa, we encourage the industry to use this rollout delay wisely, treating is as an unexpected gift that allows time to really focus on the needs of the members. We’re confident and excited to bring our accumulated knowledge and skills to the UK and help schemes reshape how they engage, interact and educate their members in a way that works for them.”