Aviva has partnered with Ortec Finance to expand access to personalised financial guidance and advice.

Under the deal, it will use Ortec Finance's OPAL wealth management platform and Yellowtail Conclusion's CORD integration platform to create an end-to-end digital guidance and advice service supported by human advisers.

The insurer said the partnership would help address the UK's advice gap, improve retirement outcomes and enable it to scale financial advice beyond traditionally affluent customers.

The technology would embed advanced financial modelling into the advice process, helping customers make better-informed decisions, particularly around retirement, while supporting consistent, evidence-based recommendations at scale.

The development comes after the UK's Targeted Support regime came into force in April, allowing firms to provide tailored suggestions to groups of customers without offering full personalised advice.

Riaan de Bruyn, director of consumer wealth at Aviva, said: "Closing the advice gap is one of the most important challenges our industry faces. At Aviva, we’re clear that personalised guidance is critical to drive engagement at scale and the Targeted Support regime will further enable us to address the advice gap with clear suggestions for customers to engage with their pensions and take their next steps with confidence.

"But we believe that financial advice remains the gold standard for more complex needs and that advisers play a vital role in giving our customers the confidence to make these important life decisions."

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