Independent financial advice (IFA) firm WPS Advisory has partnered with Moneyhub to launch an app aimed at supplementing personalised financial guidance and advice.

The app, LifeStage, seeks to ‘empower’ employees to make informed financial decisions based on their individual circumstances and goals.

Drawing on Moneyhub’s Open Finance features, the app will support users in understanding their assets and liabilities, such as income, expenditure, savings, debts, pensions, and properties.

LifeStage users will be able to share their data with WPS Advisory through Moneyhub’s Sharing Centre feature, so it can ensure IFAs are advising based on an accurate picture of a users’ financial situation.

From within the Sharing Centre, advisers can see the accounts their assigned users have chosen to share with them, a summary of net worth, assets and account types, income and spending analysis, broken down annually.

WPS Advisory said that this empowers advisers with “unprecedented capability” to access detailed account, transaction, and income/spending data for their end users.

Moneyhub and WPS Advisory have also integrated the platform with three separate partners: Guiide, Legado, and SmartSearch.

Guiide is a pension modelling tool that enables LifeStage users to create and maintain a personalised retirement plan.

Meanwhile, Legado’s Digital Vault has been added to allow users and WPS Advisory to upload, store, and manage documents within the app, and notify the other party.

SmartSearch enables individual anti-money laundering checks to be completed in seconds and helps WPS Advisory comply with the latest Customer Due Diligence and Know Your Customer obligations.

The app also grants employers the ability to choose a level of access to LifeSight that suits their employees, from bitesize financial guidance videos to fully advised solutions with annual discussions around employees’ financial goals.

“Partnering with Moneyhub has given us an exceptional opportunity to continue delivering a high-quality service to our customers while maintaining value for money,” commented WPS Advisory head of strategy, Natalie Oliver.

“Our aim is to make financial advice, typically provided through the workplace, as accessible and cost-effective as possible.

“Technology integrations play a vital role in achieving this goal. Through our LifeStage proposition, we are committed to building financial confidence in our customers, empowering them to manage their money today, tomorrow, and in the future.

“This partnership with Moneyhub, along with our broader integrations, is crucial to reaching these objectives."

Moneyhub chief commercial officer, Dan Scholey, added: “Our partnership with WPS Advisory represents a significant step in revolutionising how financial advice is delivered, making it more accessible, efficient and relevant for all and taking full advantage of the benefits of Open Finance.

“In light of the FCA’s Advice Guidance Boundary Review, this step comes at an ideal time. The research is clear - poor employee financial health impacts mental health, productivity and retention, and employees want employers to be taking a more active role in supporting them with their finances.

“By combining the expertise of advisors with cutting edge Open Finance technology, WPS Advisory has developed a truly exceptional proposition.”

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