Celebrating our successes in 2023 and looking to new opportunities in 2024

Our CEO, Anthony Rafferty, reflects on the fintech’s achievements over the past year and hints at where it is heading in 2024.

There has been a lot happening under our first full calendar year of independence as a fintech. We couldn’t be more pleased with the progress made.

Here are some of the highlights:

Unipass Letter of Authority has been a particular point of focus for us in 2023. The product started the year by winning Best in Show at the FRTC Empowering Advice through Technology conference in January. In October, the lang cat delivered another piece of research for us on the frustrations and issues being experienced by advice firms and others with this area of providers’ back offices. The whitepaper, Just Fix It Already – Broken LoA processes in UK Wealth Management, pulled no punches in showing how the paper-based LoA system is hampering the efficiencies and increasing the costs for providers and advisers alike.

Big names signing to ULoA in 2023 have been Aviva, James Hay, Royal London and Legal and General, while Skipton Building Society’s adviser arm urged the industry to adopt Unipass Letter of Authority, to speed up the market processes and create better outcomes for customers.

The latter especially resonates, as the Consumer Duty rules, introduced in July, clearly affect how providers conduct their back-office processes. ULoA helps providers conform to Consumer Duty, avoiding the potential of creating ‘foreseeable harm’, as well as delivering a significantly better service for the end client.

The Origo Integration Hub went from strength to strength, surpassing 50 users in February and passed 100 user integrations for key services in September. Lack of integration between systems, requiring re-keying of data by back-office staff is not only a key frustration but costs the industry in time and resource. Having one Hub everyone can integrate with once, and then connect to any other user for various essential tasks – such as valuations and remuneration – creates industry efficiency and cost savings, which is recognised by providers, platforms and software houses alike – as can be seen by the growing number of users, with more in the pipeline.

Scottish Widows and iPipeline were two providers adding their names to the list of 50 on the Hub, while Fidelity Adviser Solutions enhanced its connections and Contengo signed to the Hub and onboarded in just 30 days, showing the speed at which organisations can be on and using the service to their and their customers’ benefit.

As the fintech commissioned to build the central digital architecture for the Pensions Dashboard, in 2022 we also designed the Origo Dashboard Connector, signing Hargreaves Lansdown and LV= before the programme was rescheduled by the DWP in Spring 2023.

In 2024, Origo stands ready to help the larger providers, platforms and administrators to begin re-engaging with the onboarding programme, ahead of the mandatory deadline.

Towards the end of the year, in November, Equiniti’s EQ Retirement Solutions went live on the Origo Transfer Service. The Transfer Service now accounts for 95% of all DC pension transfers, virtually all contract-based providers and platforms, and boasts all bar one of the major TPAs, who have moved from paper-based to automated, digital transfers of pensions.

In the same month Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical became the latest providers to participate in the Origo Transfer Index. The Index published quarterly data on average transfer times for a leading group of providers, now numbering 30, who voluntarily provide their data to help improve transparency around transfer performance. They account for around 90% of all transfers through the Origo Transfer Service, so provide a useful industry barometer for transfer performance.

Finally, as we develop and grow our services and solutions so we need to recruit more people to join our thriving business. This year we passed 100 employees. Given all we’ve achieved I’d say we are punching well above our weight.

With the hiring of Tom Mullally as Chief Product Officer in November, who is already touring the country speaking to companies about how we can help them further, we are now set for 2024 to be a firm year of further growth with the potential for new developments and a move into markets outside of those we have traditionally served.

We are excited by all the prospects ahead of us and will keep the market informed through our newsletters, working groups and the media.

* Origo was previously owned by 12 pensions providers and investment management firms and was taken independent by Vespa in May 2022.