The Intermediary – August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 38
In Profile.
Q&A
Jessica O’Connor speaks with Simon Hayton, managing
director at Pure Retirement, about challenging perceptions
of later life lending
I
n an era of growing concerns over
retirement income, later life lending is
becoming an increasingly vital part of
the UK financial landscape. For Simon
Hayton, managing director at Pure
Retirement, the challenge is no longer convincing
people that lifetime mortgages exist. Instead, it is
ensuring they are understood and recognised as a
mainstream financial tool.
The Intermediary sat down with Hayton to
discuss the evolution of the later life lending
market and why innovation will be critical in
shaping the sector’s next chapter.
Finding opportunity
Following over a decade with the lender, Hayton
steps into the role of managing director at a
turbulent time for the later life market. While
higher interest rates and wider geopolitical
uncertainty have slowed market activity, he views
those conditions less as a setback, and more as an
opportunity to think differently.
Hayton explains: “I enjoy problem solving. I
enjoy the challenge when things are a bit tougher
than perhaps, they should be.”
ocusing on the headwinds
Rather than focusing
tivated by the
facing the market, Hayton is motivated
opportunity to guide the business through them.
He says: “It’s certainly a little bit tougher
’ve been used to, perhaps
market-wise than we’ve
onditions during the pandemic. But
similar to conditions
ets me up in the morning is the challenge
what gets
and the fresh problems to solve.”
While market conditions may fluctuate,
Hayton believes one of the industry’s biggest
challenges remains changing how later life
eness has
lending is perceived. Although awareness
increased considerably over the past decade, he
ogressed at the
argues that acceptance has not progressed
same pace.
He notes: “There’s still a bit of a hill to climb in
terms of acceptancee that it needs to form part
oducts.
of the later life suite of financial products.
That’s wheree attitudes need to change.”
For Hayton, achieving that shift
requires the entire financial services
industry to work together.
He says: “It’s going to come from
all different areas of the financial
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The Intermediary | August 2026
services market – advisers, intermediaries,
networks, lenders, the Equity Release Council – all
banging the drum.”
While equity release products were once seen
as restrictive, Hayton says today’s offerings bear
little resemblance to those historic propositions:
“The products nowadays are super flexible. Partial
repayments without early repayment charges […]
they look and feel like a standard mortgage.”
Open conversations
Changing those perceptions, Hayton argues,
starts with changing when advisers introduce the
subject. Rather than waiting until clients have
exhausted every other option, he believes later life
lending should form part of retirement planning
discussions much earlier in the process.
He explains: “Talking to customers early enough
about the product is really important. It might not
be the right solution for them today, but it might
be the right solution for them in a few years’ time.”
For Hayton, later life lending is rarely an
immediate decision. Instead, customers often
benefit from understanding the options available
to them well before they intend to use them,
giving them time to consider how housing wealth
might support their longer-term
financial goals.
He adds: “Planting the seed
of that option early enough
will create a better
market for us in the
future.
“Specialists in
this market have
been marketing to
customers over several
years. Sometimes it is a
long process to get the
customer interested in the
products, but there’s
an acceptance
of that.”
SIMON
HAYTON
