I very much hope you had a wonderful break and are looking forward to a prosperous 2019.
As I mentioned in my end of year communication, we enjoyed a hugely successful 2018 in terms of customer growth, new membership growth and the growth of balanced and favourable media coverage as equity release is increasingly recognised as a mainstream financial product in the later life lending market. We also had significant examples of political and regulatory success as a result of our broader engagement programmes.
The challenge for 2019 is to build on this success!
However, what is most important to me is ensuring that I understand your concerns and wishes and am able to represent you. Accordingly, I am very much looking forward to meeting with you as I continue to visit member companies across the UK. In the near term I will be seeking to send out our Member Survey in the coming weeks, and in addition to questions about the market, I am extremely keen to get your views about the Council and services it provides you.
Strategic Review
As a newly appointed CEO in June 2018, I was able to commission an independent 360 review of the challenges and opportunities which face the Equity Release sector including the value of being a member.
The over-riding conclusion was that there is positive goodwill for the Council from across our membership and from external audiences.
There was recognition, which will not be a surprise to you, that the Equity Release Council occupies a unique space as your trade association. Not only does the Council represent your interests as an industry trade body, we also set the standards that members need to adhere to. In doing this, we are not only a trade body that is safeguarding and promoting the industry we are also protecting the interests of consumers and seeking to ensure good consumer outcomes.
Also, unlike other trade associations we also represent the ‘complete value chain’ in terms of representing lenders, advisers, solicitors and surveyors. I believe this is a key strength of our organisation.
In particular, the value of being a member were categorised as – the Council provides:
- a networking forum, where serious issues of concern to members can be debated and ideas exchanged;
- a valuable source of market data and information through our quarterly updates and annual statement;
- a particularly important role providing standards accreditation – which in turn provides trust among consumers and the value of the endorsement ‘kite’ mark for the Equity Release market;
- a member’s directory for lead generation and awareness; and
- last but not least, that by being part of a larger representative group, it enabled you to have a bigger voice and ‘punch above your weight’, not least influencing policy, regulation and the political process.
One perception which I would like to share is the recognition that the Council has made real progress in overcoming much of the historic negative perceptions around Equity Release.
However, we can’t be complacent. In order to improve we need to continue to focus on communicating membership benefits in a clearer way to our members going forward. This includes being proactive and seeking to evolve our service to members and to ensure that our Standards evolve to meet consumer needs.
As I said in my end of year communication – my aim for 2019 is to seek to develop the value the Council delivers to you, whether it is from improved communications, providing greater insight and information for your businesses or the opportunity to engage with more Council events to network and share best practice. I very much look forward to feeding back progress to you throughout the year!
