Linda Woodall, director of life insurance and financial advice for the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, made the comments in a speech at the Ageing Population Occasional Paper Launch Event in London on Monday.
“All too often, products and services appear designed for an ‘average’ consumer – who may not actually exist,” Woodall said.
“A number of our other pieces of work indicate that products and services are not always designed in a way that best meets the needs of the wide range of consumers that make up firms’ wider target markets – and this includes older customers.
“So firms could think about how they can take older customers’ needs into account when developing products, services and distribution channels, and involve older consumers in testing and product design,” she said.
Social care and retirement lending
The Ageing Population Occasional Paper was published by the FCA last month and addresses issues including lending into retirement and social care.
Woodall said the research was carried out as an ageing population is one of the key social and environmental factors that will shape financial services both now and into the future for the UK.
“One in three babies born today can expect to celebrate their 100th birthday. By 2050, one in four people will be aged over 65. And those aged over 65 already outnumber those under 18.
“If this is true for the UK population as a whole, it means it’s true for the customer bases of financial services firms,” Woodall said.
Petronella West, co-founder and director private clients at UK based wealth management boutique Investment Quorum, said she agrees that there is currently a lack of products for the elderly.
West said she encourages families to plan together to address financial matters that may occur in the future for elderly family members.
“I recommend taking a family, community approach, to planning for future long-term care and financial services. You have to expect the unexpected,” West said.
