How do you transform a long-established financial platform into a digital experience fit for the next generation?
Leslee Ross is leading that challenge as Digital Waterfront Director at Scottish Widows.
In this episode, Leslee shares the inside story behind one of the most ambitious digital transformation efforts in UK financial services.
For nearly 200 years, Scottish Widows has been a trusted name in pensions, insurance, and investments. It is now part of Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s biggest digital bank.
But with changing customer needs, rising digital expectations, and major societal wealth gaps, the team knew it was time for a refresh.
And at the helm of this push is their new CEO, Chira Barau, whose energetic leadership has been key to driving innovation.
Leslee unpacks how they’re scaling seamless digital experiences, embracing open finance, and building a future where customers and colleagues can truly prosper.
Bridging Societal Gaps with Digital Purpose
Leslee opens by highlighting a core motivator behind Scottish Widows' digital transformation: addressing real, pressing issues in UK financial wellbeing.
She points to alarming statistics: over half the UK is headed toward pension poverty, and life cover remains seriously underutilised.
This context sharpened their mission to help Britain prosper by enabling people to grow wealth, plan for the future, and protect against the unexpected.
The new digital customer proposition tackles just that, starting with rethinking the mobile app as a comprehensive platform for financial clarity and action.
From Pension View to Financial Overview
The team realised most people only see a narrow slice of their financial life - for example, just one pension provider.
To fix this, they introduced Open Finance features that enable customers to view insurance, pension, and savings products from across providers.
The app now allows customers to securely aggregate their data and see a joined-up view of their financial circumstances.
This approach supports a simple ambition: help users understand where they stand today, assess whether it's enough, and discover what actions to take next.
Transforming at Speed, Then Scaling Smart
This shift was beyond the purely cosmetic. It involved deep structural change and a product-focused operating model.
Scottish Widows moved from project-based workflows to enduring product teams based on a “two in a box” model - with product and technology leads working side by side.
This allowed quicker decision-making, less red tape, and clearer accountability.
Leslee emphasises how they purposely stayed small and lean at first to avoid premature scaling and costly rework.
She credits having immediate access to senior stakeholders and a rapid "clearing house" model for navigating approvals quickly - a crucial advantage for a brand-specific team working within a highly regulated organisation like Lloyds Banking Group.
"When tackling something of this scale, it's vital to flesh out the big decisions early before you scale operations and burn money."
Leslee Ross, Scottish Widows
Driving Engagement with Purposeful Personalisation
Pensions and investments often struggle to attract consistent attention - they’re long-term, complex, and low-frequency by nature.
Yet Scottish Widows doubled app registrations post-refresh and saw a two-to-three-fold increase in actions like updating retirement ages and opening investment accounts.
The experience is crafted to give customers meaningful reasons to return - nudges, relevant updates, and tools that make a difference when it matters.
A guiding principle: the best engagement respects intent and timing.
Working With (Not Against) Regulation
Regulation often gets painted as a digital blocker - but Leslee challenges that view.
She shares how their embedded risk partners and domain experts helped create compliant, yet delightful, digital journeys.
The team embraced regulation as a way to build safer, more accessible products, particularly for vulnerable customers.
They applied the FCA’s Consumer Duty principles as a framework for innovation - not limitation.
Lessons In Culture, Communication, and Collaboration
High-functioning cross-disciplinary teams don’t happen by accident.
Leslee stresses the importance of creating shared objectives across product, marketing, risk, and brand.
This results in campaigns and features that feel cohesive - not disjointed or diluted at the point of delivery.
As the customer proposition moved beyond pensions into insurance and holistic wealth protection, feedback loops tightened.
They tested everything, in lab and live, and built a culture where co-creation and fast iteration is the norm.
Looking Ahead: Wealth, Protection, and Colleague Experience
The team is now extending the proposition to include more protection and insurance views - not just from Scottish Widows, but other providers too.
They’re also investing in AI-powered solutions to simplify service operations and uplift the experience for internal colleagues and advisers.
Legacy systems are being phased out for smart, intuitive tools that empower both staff and customers alike.
"You can't separate colleague experience from customer experience. They're one and the same these days."
Leslee Ross, Scottish Widows
Advice for Aspiring Digital Leaders
Leslee boiled down her key message for those wanting to lead transformation in financial services: build the right team, and truly care for them.
That goes beyond recruitment - it’s about fostering trust, nurturing growth, and creating space for bold ideas to flourish.
After 25 years at the organisation, she’s proof that sustained evolution doesn’t always require moving on - sometimes, staying put and seeing it through matters more.
FAQs
What Is Open Finance And How Does It Help Customers?
Open Finance lets customers connect financial data from multiple providers, helping them see a full view of their money and plan better decisions.
Why Did Scottish Widows Redesign Its Mobile App?
The app was redesigned to go beyond pensions and help users build wealth, plan for the future, and access tailored financial guidance.
How Has Customer Engagement Improved?
App registrations have doubled, and key actions like updating retirement ages or opening new accounts have significantly increased.
Is Regulation A Barrier To Digital Innovation?
No. For Scottish Widows, working with embedded experts made it easier to deliver compliant, customer-friendly experiences aligned with the FCA’s Consumer Duty.
What Is The “Two In A Box” Model?
It’s a team setup where product and technology leads work closely together, fostering ownership, agility, and fast decision-making.
Reviewed by
Sam Kendall, 01.05.2025
Sam Kendall
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