Following the success of UNIPASS in the life and pensions sector, Origo is looking at how the digital certificate could benefit advisers in other sectors within the industry. The polls were designed to find out what demand there is from advisers for UNIPASS in the fund management and mortgage sectors.
A total of 366 votes were logged on Origo's website, showing encouraging demand for UNIPASS in these sectors. A resounding 53% of advisers that took part in the fund management poll said they would like to use UNIPASS with Jupiter. The remaining four out of the top five fund managers identified are; Fidelity (13%); Gartmore (9%); Invesco (8%); and Newstar (6%).
Origo is already in talks with the mortgage industry to facilitate electronic data standards for the sector and UNIPASS is cited as being one service that could be of immediate benefit. Voters in the mortgage poll identified 16 lenders they would like to use UNIPASS with. The top five are as follows:
-Cheltenham & Gloucester (18%)
-Halifax (14%)
-Nationwide Building Society (13%)
-Northern Rock (11%)
-Alliance & Leicester (11%).
More than 14,000 advisers are using UNIPASS to 'unlock the internet' in the UK's life and pensions industry. By replacing multiple user-ids and passwords UNIPASS makes life easier for advisers and provides a secure way to trade online. A UNIPASS user survey published by Origo in September 2004 revealed a conservative estimate of the savings being made by the life and pensions industry at that time to be £288,000 per week.
"The premise behind UNIPASS is simple," commented Paul Pettitt, managing director of Origo. "Removing user-ids and passwords from an adviser's working day saves them time and money. There is no reason why this model could not be duplicated for use beyond the life and pensions sector. These polls show that there is demand from advisers to use UNIPASS in fund management and mortgages, which is promising."
