Lost in Translation: The Business Case for Clearer Financial Communication

Too often, financial services treat communication as a regulatory checkbox rather than a moment that shapes how people think, feel, and act with their money. Why is it that financial communications become something customers endure rather than engage with?

This was the starting point for our latest panel event, hosted in partnership with The Financial Services Forum, bringing together voices from across pensions, marketing, creative, and AI to ask why the industry still struggles to communicate clearly, and what needs to change.

Hosted by Katie Mousley (Head of Marketing, MBA Group), the panel featured Tom Peterson (Head of Marketing & Investor Relations at mallowstreet), Eoin McCann (Head of Workplace Marketing a Fidelity), Leilah Aintaoui (Managing Director at VideoSmart) and Paul Irwin (Creative Director at Studio Certain).

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Eoin McCann: Why the industry’s own tactics are part of the problem

The first point made by Eoin McCann, pointed to the industry’s own success story as part of the problem. Auto-enrolment was a concept built on people not engaging with their pension, so communications a task to simply “get out the door” rather than drive meaningful engagement.

“Now, as we’re expecting people to make decisions about their finances, we realise that people aren’t equipped and supported to make those decisions. They’re actually turning to social media or AI to find those answers, and it’s our responsibility to fix that.”

Tom Peterson agreed, adding that frequent change in the pensions space creates noise that makes the challenge harder, and stressed that amid the complexity, the answer should always come back to member outcomes.

McCann was candid that the industry has long hidden behind compliance, but with government policy now actively encouraging firms to help people make better financial decisions, that excuse no longer holds.

Paul Irwin: Treating compliance as a collaborator

Paul argued that compliance needs to be brought into the creative brief from the start rather than bolted on at the end of the journey.

“It’s really easy to treat compliance as a gatekeeper, but actually it should be a collaborator”.

Compliance should be viewed as an advisor helping craft a message that resonates. When a well-crafted message suddenly shifts into legal jargon, it's a clear sign that compliance was added later rather than considered from the beginning.

“Move that creative brief upstream, so it feels like every stakeholder that would otherwise make that decision at the end has been involved right from the beginning.”

Leilah Aintaoui: Innovating through personalisation and video

Leilah brought the data: 82% of consumers now expect personalisation from brands. Relevance is what turns personalised content into trust. When a message reflects someone's actual circumstances and financial information, it signals, "they know me".

“The challenge that organisations have is that we as consumers are always comparing the interaction we get from a brand with the next best digital experience we had that day from other brands. The bar is higher than it’s ever been before.”

Personalised video is even stronger, presenting relevant financial information back to customers in a way that educates, engages and drives meaningful action. On why financial services can be slow to adopt video, Leilah explained that cost has historically been the biggest barrier, but with automation and AI now more accessible than ever, that argument is now hard to justify.

“Automation and AI have made multimedia communications so much more accessible, and actually, if you're still using cost as your excuse, it's not valid anymore, and you will absolutely be left behind.”

Video goes even further when combined with interactivity and gamification. Tools that let members model their own numbers in real time, within a video message, can shift the perception of a pension from something being done to a person to something they're actively shaping themselves.

Want to learn how personalised video can turn complex communications into experiences that drive understanding, loyalty and action?

The Personalised Video Quick Start Guide breaks down where personalised video works best and how to get started confidently, with real-world use cases across onboarding, statements, upsell and retention.

Tom Peterson: AI with guardrails

AI was discussed with both excitement and caution. Tom Peterson described how his AI tool at mallowstreet helps translate technical conversations into accessible content, creating new opportunities to connect with consumers. However, he warned that AI is built on probabilities, generating responses based on what a person is likely to want to hear rather than what they actually need to know. Relying too heavily on it for creative thinking risks eroding valuable institutional knowledge over time.

“With AI, we have to be careful not to go down the rabbit hole of trusting something that’s built on the probability that you will like the answer rather than actually what the consumer wants.”

Leilah saw AI's opportunity as a way to deliver relevant communications at scale, but agreed that in a trust-driven industry, one ungoverned misstep can undo years of member confidence.

The consensus

Clarity isn’t about stripping back language or simplifying design. It’s about intent. It means knowing exactly what a customer needs to understand, what they need to do next, and how you want them to feel when they receive it. When those three things align, communications stop being noise and start becoming genuinely useful moments that build confidence rather than confusion.

This event was inspired by our latest playbook, Speaking Their Language, which gives you a practical framework for transforming member communication.