"There is no doubt that some people will need to look at later life borrowing due to the cost-of-living crisis and how we support that is our biggest challenge."
FR: You’re 100 days into your new role with more2life, but what’s your background in the industry as a whole?
Over the past 25 years, I’ve held various positions across the later life lending industry, from working as a financial adviser at Just Retirement, to being a business development manager at LV=, and then as head of sales for Canada Life. With my new role as at more2life sitting between these three disciplines, I’m responsible for steering the lender forward as we develop systems and approaches to fully meet the needs of advisers across a highly competitive sector.
FR: So how would you describe your time with more2life in this new role so far?
Working at a business like more2life is by turns exciting and overwhelming. We’re arguably the largest lender in our market working at the cutting edge in a rapidly growing sector. In Q2 alone, the Equity Release Council suggests that we saw 200 customers per day who unlocked a total of £1.6bn over the three months. This is phenomenal so you might imagine how much work this has taken and how an industry leading lender like more2life is working tirelessly to guide each transaction to a graceful landing. It’s certainly a lot, but I can name few other lines of work that are more satisfying.
I’ve had the pleasure of getting stuck into a rich culture of hard work and I’ve had the privilege of assembling a highly skilled and proficient sales team, many of whom are new to the company! Every team is packed with dedicated individuals and that passion is the key to driving business forward and growing the sector.
FR: There’s been a lot of commentary around the sector growing, but with the Bank of England set to announce another rise in the interest rate, what can lenders do to support advisers to help their clients steer a clear path through the cost-of-living crisis?
There is no doubt that some people will need to look at later life borrowing due to the cost-of-living crisis and how we support that is our biggest challenge.
Lenders need to be straightforward – these are economically complex times, and there’s no doubt that some people are struggling. We need to provide a comprehensive choice of products and supporting advisers to tailor their services to the individual financial situation of each client. Flexibility is key, as is continuing our focus as a sector on identifying and addressing vulnerability.
We’re seeing more and more products being launched to suit individual needs and, with specialist advice, clients have more chances to find something that suits them. But this all relies on lenders sharing information on new products and raising awareness of what’s out there, which we must continue to push.
FR: And how is more2life addressing these concerns?
At this very moment, the more2life team is working tirelessly to improve the general service we offer to customers. In particular our rapidly growing underwriting team is pulling out all the stops to slash the time taken to underwrite cases. Many equity release cases are straightforward, but some are fiendishly complicated to value and underwrite, so we’re investing heavily to make sure we can take a complex case and still turn it around in good time for an adviser and ultimately the customer.
FR: So what would you say has been a headline moment so far?
Seeing through the launch of APEX, our brand new high-LTV, shortest-in-the-market fixed ERC lifetime mortgage, was a particular highlight. I mentioned flexibility before, well APEX will let consumers who can’t achieve the usual LTV for equity release take advantage of the benefits, with the short early repayment charge period meaning that they can move onto a more typical plan quickly. It’s another option for advisers and clients, which is what we need to see more of across the sector.
