Henry Tapper, CEO AgeWage, and founder of henrytapper.com, ‘one of ten websites and blogs every investor should bookmark”- The Times‘ attended the Equity Release Summit and shares his thoughts on the day.
The Equity Release Council’s Summit at Church House in Westminster was a triumph. Packed halls and break-outs, feverish excitement in the exhibition halls and a truly extraordinary keynote from Nick Lyons of Phoenix that capped off some excellent sessions.
I can’t remember learning so much in a single day at any conference ever – and I’ve been to a few.
At the top of the show, former Labour pension minister Chris Pond delivered the key message of the day and I spoke on a panel that asked searching questions about what kind of customer engagement insurers were getting.
This was not a sales conference; the Council is after responsible and sustainable growth in the sale of lifetime mortgages. I was able to thank Aviva, Rutters Solicitors and our IFA Kevin Hull for getting my mother’s lifetime loan over the line. But I also spoke of what happens when insurers and sales staff don’t get it right and applications get stuck for months in underwriting. The standards that the Council aspires to, are not universally applied.
Sessions I attended on innovation, on the European perspective and on Consumer Duty added to my understanding of this underserved market.
But my main takeaway was the comment from Nick Lyons at the end of the day, that pensions and residential property are the two stores of wealth in the UK we need most to develop.
As we go into a General Election, then the timing of this message could not be more apposite.
And all this – carried out with immense goodwill and the esprit de corps of a professionally run trade body that is a model to many like it.
Thanks especially to the Council’s CEO Jim Boyd for the invitation, Jamie, Sarah, Chris and Michelle on my panel and to Laura Gibson for making this happen. Thanks too to David, Council Chair, for making us all so welcome. It’s not often that a conference works as well as this did and when it does, it needs to be called out.
This article first appeared on henrytapper.com here
