Key Group
The second quarter of the year has been busy at Key Group as its brands worked to ensure its approaches and processes align with the Consumer Duty deadline. Taking up a significant amount of time for our compliance team, the entire company has also received training on this important subject with specific departments receiving more in-depth support as necessary.
Key Group has two official charities that it is supporting in 2023 which are The Boathouse Youth and Alzheimer’s Society. The Boathouse Youth is Blackpool-based charity which focuses on supporting children aged 4 to17 from socio-economically deprived backgrounds by promoting positive as well as educational growth. Alzheimer’s Society is a national charity which looks to support those living with dementia.
Each Key colleague receives a charity day to support either one of the company’s charities or an organisation of their choice. Thus far in 2023, almost 300 hours have been used, including a Group-wide sponsored walk, which saw teams tackle the 21 miles of the Guild Wheel around Preston, raising over £3,000 for the Boathouse Youth in the process.
Key – Key Later Life Finance and The Equity Release Experts
Key launched its pensioner Property Equity Index earlier this quarter, which tracks the amount of equity held in property by people over 65 years old in Great Britain who own their own homes outright., The analysis showed that older homeowners have seen their property wealth increase by nearly £1,400 a month in the past year despite uncertainty in the housing market.
Key’s focus on customers, colleagues, and partners during what has been a tough time for the market was recognised at this year’s Mortgage Strategy Awards when Key scooped the accolade for the Best Broker for Equity Release.
Will Hale (CEO from Key) said: “As an organisation and for the equity release sector, the last few years have been extraordinary with some huge successes and big challenges. This award recognises the dedication, hard work, and determination by all colleagues to support customers, grow the market and build ultimately build a business that we can be proud of.”
Finally, Key has unveiled its H1 2023 Market Monitor which outlines the challenges facing the market following the Mini-Budget but also the green shoots that are starting to emerge as the sector becomes acclimatised to the new normal.
Standard Life Home Finance
It’s been a busy quarter for Standard Life Home Finance, as they continued their commitment to supporting customers as well as advisers.
Forging another successful partnership, the brand became the 6th equity release lender to join finova’s Payment and Mortgage Services panel, further expanding the suite of Later Life Lending products available to its 450+ brokers.
Building on last year’s insights, Standard Life Home Finance’s Lightbulb Moments II collated hundreds of responses from those over the age of 55 who have considered equity release and those who have taken out a plan.
The study highlighted the impact of customers income on how they make choices around housing equity. Wealthier borrowers are twice as likely to gift the proceeds of equity release while less affluent borrowers are looking to repay unsecured borrowing, boost their income and age-proof their homes.
Finally Standard Life Home Finance was delighted to pick up its first industry award at the Money Age Awards.
Picking up the trophy for the Later Life Lender of the Year, Kay Westgarth, Director of Sales for Standard Life Home Finance said: “Having launched in 2021, we’ve had an exciting couple of years as we navigated the challenges the market has thrown at us while focusing on supporting customers and advisers.
“This is our first award as a brand, and I could not be more pleased as it recognises all the hard work and determination of the team.”
Air
Earlier this year, Air restructured its senior team to better support the growing later life lending market. With new CEO – Paul Glynn, providing high level strategic insight – at the helm, Mike Taylor was appointed Managing Director of Air Club with Jon Tweed, stepping into the Director of Sales role.
Given the importance of technology in the market, Ben Halhead was appointed as Head of Technology to help further advance Air’s capabilities needed to drive the development of the later life lending market for advisers and partners. Air’s founder – Stuart Wilson – stepped into the role of Chair of Air Club to provide strategic input into the ongoing development of the platform.
At the end of June, Air hosted its first National Later Life Adviser Conference under the new management team at the British Motor Museum. This year’s event had a special focus on the upcoming Consumer Duty legislation and also highlighted the support that Air is currently providing advisers who are tackling this challenge. This includes a Consumer Duty Later Life document library on its sourcing platform as well as a partnership with Comentis to offer its ninth Air Academy module focusing on vulnerability.
The Conference saw a variety of industry experts from trade bodies to consumer champions offering practical solutions on how to navigate the challenges of the new regime. F1 and Le Mans racing driver, Perry McCarthy (the original Stig from BBC’s Top Gear) also took to the stage to lend his insight to attendees about keeping on track and how to manage performance as well as achieve customer excellence.
more2life
more2life’s commitment to providing products that meet the changing needs of the later life lending market continued this quarter with the relaunch of the Apex range.
Boasting some of the highest LTVs in the market with the shortest early repayment charge periods and designed for customers looking for a maximum cash release, as well as flexibility should their circumstances change, Apex plans were paused following the mini-Budget fiscal event but have now been relaunched on an ongoing tranche basis to boost more2life’s roster of product range.
Support for advisers also continued to build, as the lender took to the road with the return of its Learning Lab Live (click here). The regional events focused on Lead Generation, as well as Consumer Duty giving advisers practical advice they could implement for their businesses.
Finally, more2life released its vulnerability report (click here). With the need to identify and support vulnerable customers a focus for the later life lending industry for some time now, the bi-annual report suggested that advisers were getting better at recognising challenges in their client base – especially in light of the cost-of-living crisis.
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