PensionBee is a leading online pension provider, that helps customers to interact with their savings through a unique combination of smart technology and dedicated customer service. We’ve helped thousands of customers be Pension Confident, enabling them to transfer their old pensions into one simple online plan.
With PensionBee savers can manage their pension like they manage their bank account: checking their real-time balance, viewing their projected retirement income, and setting up contributions and withdrawals effortlessly online.
In addition to utilising the latest technology to make pensions simple, we’re committed to giving our customers a highly personalised experience, therefore each one receives a dedicated BeeKeeper (Customer Success Manager), to guide them on their PensionBee journey. This is a level of customer service never seen before in the pensions industry and is a real point of difference for our customers.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
In 2014 I had a negative experience trying to move my pension after changing jobs. Despite working as a financial services professional for years and feeling confident that I knew the system, I found the whole process really difficult. I realised that if I could get tripped up by complex processes, attempting to transfer a pension could cause real problems for consumers.
I started asking my friends and family about their experiences and quickly learned that virtually everyone has a pension horror story – from a languishing pension pot at an old provider to scattered pension pots from numerous jobs.
I thought that there must be a better way to make pensions simpler, and was confident that technology could be used to solve the problem. After a short period of market research, speaking to potential customers, business partners and investors, I took the plunge and launched PensionBee.
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What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
Don’t give up when the going gets tough, all the hard work is always worth it in the end. If it was easy, somebody else would already be doing it!
PensionBee’s focused on solving a consumer problem so it’s essential that we really listen to the needs of the customer at every opportunity. It’s my experience that as long as you always do what is best for the consumer you’ll be successful.
What can we hope to see from PensionBee in the future?
Lots! We’ve just launched a new flexible product for self-employed consumers, a group previously underserved by the pensions industry. Self-employed savers will be able to sign up for free, and pay into their pension according to their current income, with no minimum contribution amounts.
We’re also working on ways to further enhance our 2-way API integrations with some of the UK’s most popular money management apps to make it even easier for customers to view the history of their pension contributions and withdrawals, as well as make contributions. In addition, we intend to continue campaigning for the inclusion of pensions in Open Finance so all savers can have a holistic view of their money, while fighting for transparency on costs and charges.
