"Moving forward I believe there will be a bigger footprint of brokers operating within the industry, which is why relationship building is so important."
FR: You recently joined more 2 life as director of sales – what does your day-to-day role involve and what are your goals for more 2 life going forward?
Since joining more 2 life in summer 2018, my long term goal for the company has always been in line with my day-to-day role and that is to simply help more advisers give great advice to more clients.
Pension freedoms have encouraged brokers to consider housing equity when advising on retirement financial planning. This has opened up equity release to more of the mainstream retirement market and has led to more flexible and innovative products being developed to support qualified advisers use lifetime mortgages as part of their financial planning recommendations for their clients.
By engaging with our existing intermediaries and building strong relationships with new firms we are able to give more clients access to great products. Through these relationships we can help each individual adviser with whatever level of support they may need, from tools and calculators on our website to client facing information.
At more 2 life it is my role to help the team not only build relationships but to strengthen them by listening to our partner firms and designing smoother processes and innovative systems to help them to transact more quickly and easily with more 2 life. We will continue to develop our industry leading portal though this valuable feedback.
Paramount to our growth plans is to build a greater awareness of more 2 life’s products by communicating with the market about our product range and the fantastic features available. The plan with the lowest interest rate may not automatically be the one that meets the longer term needs of the client.
This help and support we provide to brokers is integral to strengthening new and existing relationships with brokers.
FR: With the equity release market growing at record-breaking levels, how do you think the market will evolve over the next year?
Latest market figures highlight how rapidly the market is growing, which makes it an exciting time to be working in equity release. Moving forward I believe there will be a bigger footprint of brokers operating within the industry, which is why relationship building is so important.
It’s a self-perpetuating cycle. More active, qualified advisers in the market increases client awareness of lifetime mortgages as a solution and where the advice could lead to lifetime mortgage as an appropriate outcome. This growth in the market will lead to interest from additional funders waiting to get involved in the UK lifetime mortgage market and will drive product development and new technological advances leading the way to ensure that the right products meet the ever-changing needs of clients. These will in turn encourage more advisers into the market.
FR: How can the equity release industry embrace technology innovation to provide more valuable and efficient support to customers?
Technology innovation is the future for the market. The creation of new tools and systems will ultimately help the client but also benefit firms and individual advisers. Streamlined processes, live updates and smooth user journeys will enrich the advice process and bring product features to life. It will also help the smaller emerging firms have a greater reach across the market and make it easier for their advisers to access a wider range of products.
more 2 life recently launched an integrated API with AiR Sourcing which provides a smoother transition from AiR Sourcing’s system to more 2 life’s adviser portal. The potential for development in this space is enormous and can drive efficiencies, scale and cost savings at lenders and adviser firms alike.
Joining up the sourcing, KFI and ultimately the application processes will reduce re-keying, and speed up transaction times. This will mean advisers can spend more of their valuable time advising the client and driving great customer outcomes.
FR: How can equity release be better integrated into retirement planning, and what benefits would this bring?
Following the pension freedom changes, using property wealth to provide income in retirement in a tax efficient manner ahead of, or alongside pension assets has become a bigger consideration for advisers and their clients. Not all advisers are utilising the modern product designs and planning features that make equity release a more viable solution – even where they already have the equity release qualification. Flexible and tax free drawdown, inheritance protection, optional repayment capability are all options that could be very powerful planning tools in the hands of any financial planner – as well as low interest rates and Fixed ERCs.
It is our responsibility to inform and educate the financial planning industry about the benefits equity release can have for their clients, not only in terms of releasing funds but also when considering estate planning. This is an area we want to build upon through working with and educating brokers and advisers on the benefits of equity release.
FR: If you could see one headline about the retirement market, what would it be?
'Equity release achieves same volume of lending in 12 months as the last 10 years combined'.
