SIGs Financial Services - Background & Objectives

The Special Interest Group “Financial Services” aims at the identification and analysis of financial services and products addressed to the Silver Economy market which bear the potential for learning and for adapting and transferring them to other regions. The aim is to:

• learn from experiences in the field of financial services for the Silver Economy market in different European countries and regions,
• identify product and services’ provision opportunities for other European regions
• investigate options for transferring such products and services to other regions considering necessary effort for service adaptation, and in case of affirmation and approval,
• create an awareness of such offers among key players and stakeholders in the regions.

Where appropriate, the

• (further) development of (existing) innovative financial services offers of relevance to elderly citizens and
• their implementation by key actors (e.g. banks and financial service providers)

could take place in the SEN@ER partner regions.

These services will include and address those offers which are directly targeted to the elderly citizen but also those of indirect relevance, i.e. services and products which help financing investments and services development by investors from industry, welfare organisations, charities or social and health care service providers of direct relevance for this target group of seniors.

Financial services constitute an important area when it comes to securing the quality of life for seniors in our society. This relates to several types of products and services and levels of financial service provision and include those aimed at:

• Meeting the (additional) financial demands of seniors for age-specific products and services, which seniors have problems to purchase or obtain, in order to ensure the continuation of an independent living at good quality-of-life standards in their own homes and thereby financially relieving health insurance funds;
• Financing of new products and services including innovative forms of housing and services for seniors that addressed to the (investment) requirements of conglomerates of service providers and investors which are increasingly posing new demands on banks and other financial service providers which these currently struggle with;
• New forms of cooperation between the different actors involved (e.g. service providers, banks, investors, public authorities), i.e. the development of regional Silver Economy clusters to achieve innovations in regional service provision and the financing of these which will eventually lead to new job creation and economic growth. Regional cluster development in the Silver Economy market is seen as a regional policy issue.

These issues will constitute the topics for the work programme of the SIG “Financial Services” as was agreed upon by the relevant key players and partners in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) including the Bank für Sozialwirtschaft, Institut für Arbeit und Technik, Bankenvereinigung NRW, chambers of commerce and representatives from the West Midlands in their ambitions to define and structure the activities and work programme of this SIG.