This edition of Focus On features Thomas Brett from Contact State, a tech platform for financial services firms. Read on to learn about Thomas, his role on the Tech Forum and thoughts about the challenges facing the sector.
Tell us about yourself and your role with the Council? My name is Tom, and my professional role is Head of Business Development at Contact State. We’re a tech platform designed to help make marketing campaigns (both internal and external) safer, more transparent, and more profitable for large financial services firms, including large ER brokerages and providers. I’ve worked in the later life lending market for over 12 years now, starting in customer facing roles, managing teams, and moving into business development. During this time, I worked hard and qualified as an adviser and did write business for a time. On top of the work I do, I sit on the Standards Committee within the Equity Release Council, I sit on the Risk Forum and head up a subgroup of the Tech Forum too! Having a hand in improving the sector I’ve worked in for a long time really is a privilege.
When and why did Contact State join the Council and what have the benefits to date? Contact State joined the Equity Release Council in 2022 and we see this as a crucial partnership in achieving our mission of improving the standard of advertising in financial services. The equity release market continues to hold itself to a higher standard compared to other financial services markets and we want to lend our expertise in digital customer journeys to the ER space. If we can improve the advertising practices as a market (both internal marketing by utilising innovative customer journeys, and by providing transparency on external lead generation practices) we can continue to improve the reputation of the products that we know can change lives, often when customers need it most.
Please explain the role of the Tech Forum and its motives for 2024 and beyond. As we know, technology is becoming an increasingly important component of the customer journey. All the way through from the first advert seen, past the advice process and even into post advice customer care and continued support. The role of the Tech Forum is to really dig into the detail of possible technological innovations that could improve the equity release market. From tracking advertising journeys or making the advice process slicker, more customer friendly and easier for advisers, our aim is to ‘future proof’ the market and improve access and processes so we can help as many customers as possible.
The Tech Forum has been very ambitious, is there anything that you are most excited about? It’s great working within an ambitious group like the Tech Forum. Something we’re working on which is exciting is greater communication between broker and provider. If we can improve this relationship, for example if a ‘life event or plan flag’ occurs (like a customer requesting a further advance, or a spouse passing away) and the lender notifies the broker, we can ensure gold standard advice for the lifetime of the loan. This will continue to improve reputation of ER, but also reduce complaints, remove possible fraud, and could even improve insurance costs for brokers when we remove plans from their liability back books.
Please could you share your views on the opportunities and challenges in the sector? The market is continually improving and 2024 is genuinely exciting as rates improve and greater innovation continues from product providers. Working on providing plans for demographics like younger borrowers is fantastic, and as we move towards a more holistic advice process, which includes all products available (later life mortgages and RIOs etc) we’re truly doing all we can to service as many customers as possible. Challenges in the market continue to be the reputation it still carries. A lot has been done to improve this, and it is working but we still need to pay closer attention to customer journeys and the advertising and messaging we see today. We can move to more innovative digital journeys towards advice and by allowing customers to choose how to interact, that trust continues to build.
What would you say to any member / individual interested in joining one of the Council forums and in particular the Tech Forum? Joining in with the forums within the Equity Release Council has been fantastic for me. Not only do you get to meet and catch up with industry experts, you really do have a hand in improving a market which helps so many people. The collaborative approach and customer centric view means it’s genuinely inspiring getting together with so many people to help change the market for the better, and improving customer’s lives, which is, at the end of the day, the reason we all do what we do.
- The views of contributors are not necessarily shared by the Council
