The Default regulations, promulgated in 2018 for implementation in March 2019, had a number of major impacts on SEB. Accordingly, a Default Regulations project team was instituted as well as representatives from all the different business areas. This team was also supported at different stages by many others in the various areas of the business.
One of the largest impacts of Default Regulations is the requirement to obtain member consent in writing prior to paying out any exit. This requirement had the potential to disrupt our capability to pay exits timeously, especially as we no longer get signed manual forms from clients who submit claim forms Digitally on RFW.
The Default Regulations team proposed an innovative solution, that would enable members to access multiple channels to provide consent (including SMS, email, web and manual forms), as well as minimising the administration impacts.
Another large impact was the need to provide Member Counselling. This need has been met in two ways – the development of a significant “financial information” portal on our Member Web / App (effectively replacing the old “Retiremate” system), and also the institution of the Individual Member Services team, which provides a counselling service to members of funds who required a solution.
All the above has been conceptualised, developed and delivered within in the last nine months. While there will inevitably be some challenges in bedding these new systems and processes down, we are confident that our response to the Default Regulations will set new standards of member servicing in our industry.