Pure Retirement
Like many of our equity release market peers, our recent focus has been on continuing to offer advisers innovative lifetime mortgage solutions to meet the ever more diverse needs of their clients. Over the past year, our Product team have been working hard to develop our product offering and in July, we announced that new customers who take out a lifetime mortgage from our Classic range can receive a free Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) upon completion. The EPC would allow customers to check their property’s current energy efficiency rating and get insights into how they may improve it. We have also partnered with Tree-Nation to plant a tree on every Classic completion, helping to offset carbon emissions.
Elsewhere, customers can benefit from our lifetime mortgages’ flexible pricing model, offering up to 1,000 price points, meaning that they receive a unique and personalised interest rate tailored to their personal circumstances, ultimately allowing for more competitive pricing and a lower cost of borrowing. To understand how flexible pricing works, our guide for advisers explains the finer details.
We hope to meet advisers new and old at the upcoming Pure Lifetime Mortgage Roadshow, an in-person event taking place on 8th September at Tankersley Manor, Sheffield. Expect insightful discussions and presentations on topics including inheritance tax, property conveyancing, underwriting criteria, marketing and later life market trends.
Visit our website for more details – we hope to see you there.
Key Group
In June, Key Group launched the Future of Later life Lending report in association with specialist independent research consultancy AKG. For the first time, a definitive sizing of the UK Later Life Lending market was unveiled which places it at up to £153.9 billion.
Building on the definition agreed by Equity Release Council, UK Finance, Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, Building Societies Association and The Investment and Savings Alliance, this is a crucial step forward for the market.
Simon Thompson, Group CEO at Key Group, said: “Our research paper clearly highlights that not only is the Later Life Lending market becoming a force to be reckoned with, but that customers, advisers, providers and trade bodies are keen to see it take its rightful place amongst the options people consider as they age. By clearly defining the market, AKG has provided a platform on which people and businesses can make concrete future plans.
Key
It has been a busy few months for Key with a range of customer insight initiatives unveiled and new deals announced.
Using the topical hook of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Key highlighted the buoyant housing market by showing that from the beginning of her reign until present day, property prices have risen by 138 times! Also, looking beyond the headline figures for the sector, Key highlighted that almost three times as many divorced women (72%) release equity from their home than divorced men (28%). Across 2021, 12% of people who released equity from their home were divorced, this figure has gradually increased over the last few years and is set to climb further following the introduction of no-fault divorces on 6th April 2022.
Key has also partnered with My Care Consultant to support customers who need help navigating through the UK social care system. With almost two-thirds (64%) of over-55s saying they want to receive care at home this partnership will provide information and clarity to those looking at how best to fund care in later life.
Finally, Key launched its H1 2022 Market Monitor, in which it predicted the market is likely to exceed £6 billion in lending this year. This was also the first edition of this long standing report which highlighted the number of customers (2,130 in H1 2022) who were choosing to remortgage their existing equity release borrowing.
Standard Life Home Finance
Unveiled at the Equity Release Summit in Westminster, Standard Life Home Finance launched its Lightbulb Moment research which highlighted that far from being a product of last resort, retirement aspirations and financial planning drives almost half of equity release customer choices.
Standard Life Home Finance recently launched two new products loan-to-value (LTV) products to its flexible lifetime mortgage range, Horizon. The new products, Horizon 780 and Horizon 800, offers maximum LTVs of 55% and 56%, respectively. Available to homeowners between the ages of 55 and 84, the Horizon range has been designed to be highly flexible and cater for a wide range of customer needs, offering both drawdown and lump sum options.
In Q2 2022, Standard Life Home Finance unveiled a new partnership with PRIMIS Mortgage Network, which will see the later life lender sit on PRIMIS’ equity release panel and TMA Club bringing its range of later-life lending products to the TMA panel.
Finally, Standard Life Home Finance has invested in its business development team with the appointment of Phil Beswick, who joins the firm as Business Development Manager. To support this momentum, Phil will oversee broker and adviser relationships in all areas above Birmingham. Phil has seven years’ experience in account management and sales across property and construction.
Air
The National Later Life Adviser Conference took place on Thursday, 16 June 2022 at the National Space Centre, with more than 300 later life advisers in attendance. The event included full day of CPD qualifying training sessions which were led by high profile speakers and included topics such as vulnerability, marketing your business, estate planning, care funding and navigating the customer journey. Delegates also enjoyed networking opportunities, explored the venue’s museum and an inspiring talk from Astronaut Tim Peake.
At the sell-out conference, CEO – Stuart Wilson – unveiled its new brand and purpose, outlining how it will build on its existing strengths to leveraging technology, knowledge and people to provide a suite of services for later life lending advisers. Moving from Air Group to Air, this familiar brand will offer a range of market leading services including Air Sourcing, Air Club, Air Ambassadors, Air Academy and Air Marketing.
Air also revealed its new look Air Academy which offers eight learning modules designed to upskill and support advisers operating in the later life lending arena. In a first for the industry, all modules are fully accredited by the London Institute of Banking and Finance (LIBF) and aligned to the Equity Release Council’s Competency Framework. Once advisers have successful completed the programme they will also earn accredited status and gain permission to display a unique ‘Accredited Later Life Lending Professional’ digital badge to promote their later life credentials.
To push forward its recently refreshed proposition, Air appointed Nicola Palmer as Senior Business Development Consultant. She has worked in Financial Services for almost three decades and brings with her a wealth of experience gained in both business development and adviser roles. Most recently, Nicola was a Key Account Manager at Canada Life, in this role she was awarded Best BDM at the 2022 Equity Release Awards.
more2life
In July, more2life launched its annual Borrowing in Later Life report which looks at over-55s debt burden. Key findings include: debt amongst over-55s set to top £400bn in 10 years, and as the cost-of-living continues to bite, inflationary pressure sees nearly 40% of retirees spending more than they gain in income each month.
London Rebuilding Society launched a new home improvement equity release product which has been designed and provided by more2life. The Healthy Homes, Healthy Lives scheme is designed to provide a lifeline to those over-55 homeowners who need to carry out much needed repairs and improvements or have been unable to get finance to afford the cost of the works.
Further advancing its distribution capabilities more2life created a new role and appointed Les Pick as Director of Manufacturing and Adviser Propositions. Les has a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the sector with over his twenty-five years in the industry working for brands including Aviva, Equity Release Supermarket, LV= and most recently, as Head of Sales – Equity Release at Canada Life.
- The above copy was supplied by our members and the views expressed therein and not necessarily those of the Council.
