The upgraded platform now offers tailored versions and configurable settings designed to work for any financial services organisation. Recommended assessment sets are available for a range of industry segments, including mortgages, financial advice, credit, debt, insurance and building societies, and firms can refine and adapt assessments to suit different customer needs.
The latest release has also widened the number of integrations available for users. MARS now supports modern APIs across a wide range of toolsets so that the cloud-based platform can work with a number of existing systems, customer portals, CRMs and financial platforms.
MARS produces a structured Resilience Rating, similar to a credit score, giving users a repeatable, data-driven method for identifying vulnerable characteristics and evidencing the support they provide - which can help advisers track the needs of vulnerable clients and ensure they meet Consumer Duty guidelines.
These improvements build on recent upgrades to MARS’s algorithms, which now allow users to more effectively record, measure and support people experiencing multiple vulnerabilities or significant life events such as separation or moving home. Previous features introduced include the ability to track recommendations and the implementation of support, as well as present customer vulnerability data at household level to reflect the reality of family-based financial planning.
Andrew Gething, managing director of MorganAsh, said the latest changes underline MARS’s commitment to continuous evolution: “Rather than a static system, MARS continues to benefit from a full range of developments and upgrades. Alongside our own pipeline of enhancements, we stay close to our clients and users and welcome feedback to ensure the system offers what they need. Following our major upgrade to better track multiple vulnerabilities, it is great to unveil further improvements that make MARS more flexible than ever to work with any financial services company.”
Gething added that the enhancements reflect a dual focus on customisation and frictionless adoption:
“Customising our approach to assessments means we can be flexible to the needs and requirements of businesses in every sector, while enhancing integration means we can equip more firms with powerful vulnerability management with minimal friction. As a standalone platform or integrated into existing systems, firms unlock the benefits of MARS, whether it’s consistency of data and reporting, recommendations of support needs, benchmarking against peers – all in a way that is secure, GDPR compliant and delivers a real competitive advantage.”
