Equity release adviser pack launched to help meet growing demand

 

  • Adviser Guide to Equity Release launched by the Equity Release Council and produced by Pure Retirement
  • Pack provides an in-depth view of products, advice processes and the wider market

 

A new online guide, the ‘Adviser Guide to Equity Release’, has been launched by the Equity Release Council (The Council) to provide a greater understanding of the market to aspiring new entrants and provide additional support to recent arrivals already in the market.

The detailed guidance framework is designed to support advisers interested in, or currently, providing advice to clients on equity release products in response to growing consumer demand. The guide has been created and sponsored by member firm Pure Retirement, the equity release provider, in partnership with The Council. 

It will allow advisers to access generic information on the background to the market, the available propositions and the qualification routes required in order to advise on equity release products effectively. Each stage of the advice process is outlined from initial client engagement to completion. 

The introduction of the guide follows a period of sustained growth for the equity release market. The start of 2016 witnessed a record first quarter for the sector with £393.9m lent – the highest Q1 value recorded and a 21% jump from the same time a year before. The figures followed a busy end to 2015 when activity grew 21% in the second half of the year compared with H2 2014. 

2016 also marks the 25th anniversary of The Council and the Standards which set out best practice for products and advice across the sector. With the use of housing wealth emerging as a key issue across the retirement planning landscape, advisers are increasingly taking an interest in the market and the potential benefit it offers to clients.

The guide is available to download via The Council’s website. An additional toolkit for advisers is also available exclusively to members of The Council, providing a collection of supporting materials including example suitability reports, templates and forms.

 

Nigel Waterson, Chairman of the Equity Release Council commented:

“Equity release is receiving increased recognition from consumers, regulators and politicians as the realisation spreads that housing wealth can play a greater role in people’s financial planning for later life. 

“It is our hope that the ‘Adviser Guide to Equity Release’, one of our new initiatives this year, will give budding advisers who have taken note of the changing landscape the confidence to build up their knowledge and understanding of equity release in order to eventually gain qualifications in this area if they haven’t already done so and progress to giving advice. This in turn will benefit consumers as it will provide more people with access to professional financial advice when they are looking to consider how to access their housing equity.  

“We are grateful to Pure Retirement as this guide would not have been possible without its commitment and support.”

 

Paul Carter, Chief Executive of Pure Retirement commented:

“Growth in our market can only be supported if we broaden the adviser base. As we see increased innovation with products that straddle the standard mortgage market together with advice that can also cover the pensions market – following the pension reforms of 2015 – the need for wider adviser engagement grows. 

“Traditionally there has been a reticence for generalist IFAs and mortgage brokers to engage in our market, yet my experience has shown that once you help advisers understand how to work within our market and the benefit it offers their clients they are only too willing to engage. This guide is just one approach to helping those advisers engage and work professionally and compliantly in a market that will continue to grow for many years to come.”

 

Adviser perspectives

 

Paul Saroya, Principal of Viva Retirement Solutions, commented:

“This guide and toolkit will help advisers to be more confident in the fact that they can move into the equity release market and deliver the high standards that are required. It gives new advisers into the industry a platform to progress and the tools with which to do that – if only it had been available when we first started out.”

Mike Milne, Equity Release Specialist at SixtyPlus, commented:

“This guide is essential reading for new entrants and experienced advisers alike. Compiled by respected experts, it provides an excellent knowledge base together with proven strategies to develop a successful business plan. Another great example of the Equity Release Council’s commitment to support those involved in this sector.”

Rob Muscutt, IFA at Otter Financial Services, commented:

“Being relatively new to the equity release market, I have found the adviser guide a great reference tool.  We have amended some of our documents to reflect the content of the guide and this has given us more confidence in promoting equity release products to our clients.”

Stuart Wilson, Managing Partner of Later Life Academy, commented:

“Our joint training initiative with The Council will be enhanced by these guides and we applaud the knowledge and experience used to design them.”

 

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

  • Jordan Campbell, Victoria Heslop or Will Muir at Instinctif Partners, on 020 7427 1400 or email [email protected]
  • Paul Carter at Pure Retirement, on 07595 922834, or email [email protected]

 

Notes to editors

 

About The Equity Release Council:

The Equity Release Council is the industry body for the equity release sector, which represents over 400 members including providers, qualified financial advisers, solicitors, surveyors and other industry professionals.

It works to ensure a safe equity release market for consumers, by operating rigorous Standards for the provision of advice and products which guarantee security of tenure and financial protections. 2016 marks the 25th anniversary since the first industry Standards were created for equity release in 1991. Since then, over 350,000 consumers have taken out an equity release plan from Council members, drawing on almost £17bn of housing wealth.

The Council also works with consumers, industry and policy makers to improve awareness and understanding of equity release and the potential for housing wealth to help solve many of the financial challenges facing people over the age of 55 across the UK.

 

About Pure Retirement:

Pure Retirement Ltd are a specialist mortgage lender to the Equity Release market, offering products that provide simple and straight-forward solutions for use in effective retirement planning.

Winners of the Equity Release Award for Best Provider in 2015, Pure have been trading since 2014, working with over 2000 registered advisers to provide a first class service to customers with products tailored to their needs.

The vision of CEO Paul Carter is to offer value for money solutions through the UK’s breadth of regulated equity release advisers, with an aim to become one of the top four lenders in the market.