"One of the most important issues is to
help improve financial education - to help more people understand
our products, as well as providing access to those products."
Employee
Old Mutual Stakeholder research 2010
The importance of marketing and selling financial products and
services in a responsible way has been reinforced by the turmoil of
the past few years. It is absolutely vital that we provide clear
and transparent information on our products and services which is
easy for our customers to understand, and that we do everything we
can to ensure our customers not only have access to, but also
choose, the product or service that best fits their financial
situation and their needs. This is the best path to customer
satisfaction and one of the most important ways in which we can
build trust with our customers.
Highlights for 2010
- We delivered training for employees across many of our business
units on how to improve the clarity of our customer
communication
- We continued to review the approval process, at a business unit
level, that all our marketing material must go through - including
legal, actuarial and marketing screening
- We delivered initiatives to help build financial understanding.
For example:
- Skandia Germany and Skandia Poland offer comprehensive support
for distributors including information packs, video podcasts, an
extranet for brokers, and workshops about products and
services
- Old Mutual South Africa (OMSA) has focused on changing the way
it assesses financial advisors to focus on customer relationships
rather than only on number and value of policies sold
- Skandia UK launched an online video to explain its fund
platforms and how to manage investments
- My Money Plan in South Africa provides advice and help
with debt consolidation (see page 9 for a more detailed case
study)
- We helped more people access our financial products and
services. For example:
- A mobile money-transfer service, M-Pesa, introduced by
Nedbank and Vodacom in South Africa
- Across South Africa we continued to expand access for
low-income individuals and community groups by using supermarkets
and post offices as distribution points.
Our future plans
- Responsible marketing and selling will continue to be a focus
area for us across all our business units throughout 2011 and
beyond.
