The Intermediary – February 2026 - Flipbook - Page 73
P RO T E C T I O N
Opinion
Don’t ignore
the protection
opportuntiy
W
hile 2007 is
oen seen as
the high-water
mark for the
mortgage
market, with
gross lending peaking at £363bn, 2026
has the potential to be the busiest
year on record for brokers.
UK Finance forecasts £300bn of
new lending and £261bn of product
transfers (PT) this year, meaning
total lending could hit an astonishing
£561bn in total. With PTs only
becoming a significant part of the
market in the past decade, it means
that total activity in 2026 should
eclipse 2007 by some margin.
We are now nearly six years on from
the pandemic and the ‘race for space’
and lending spike that followed it. As a
result, an astonishing 1.8 million fixed
rates are due to expire this year.
Therefore, the most obvious
opportunity this year for brokers
lies in the refinance market.
However, what has largely gone
underappreciated is how this refinance
boom also offers up a significant
protection opportunities for advisers
and clients alike.
Open client conversations
Of those 1.8 million projected
borrowers, nearly a million will be
rolling off sub-2% 5-year fixed rates
and are likely to see a significant
increase in their monthly repayments,
according to the latest Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) data.
Many of these borrowers may
not have considered their cover in
over five years. In that time, their
circumstances may have changed
significantly, due to marriage, moving
jobs or perhaps starting a family.
Therefore, a review is important.
Some of these borrowers may also
need to extend their mortgage term to
afford their increased outgoings.
This is where it is important to
have deeper conversations with your
clients, delving into what workplace
sickness and employee benefits they
have in place through their employers,
as well as what savings provisions they
have to cover their outgoings if they
were unable to work due to illness
or incapacity.
The remaining 800,000 or so
borrowers will be on 2- or 3-year fixed
rates, meaning they have already
refinanced onto a higher rate since
the Bank of England started hiking
borrowing costs in early 2022. In
most cases, these borrowers can look
forward to a noticeable reduction
in their monthly repayments when
they refinance this year. This creates
a different, but equally compelling,
protection opportunity for brokers.
Prioritising cover
For borrowers, a drop in monthly
repayments can feel like a windfall
aer years of ongoing pressure on
household finances.
The instinct may be to pocket the
cash or rebuild savings, which is, of
course, sensible. But having adequate
protection in place is arguably just
as important to safeguard income
and family finances if the worst were
to happen.
CRAIG HALL
is director,
strategic partnerships
at LSL Financial Services
Over the past two years, the average
fixed rate mortgage has fallen by
around 1.12%, according to Moneyfacts
data. On a typical £250,000 repayment
mortgage over 25 years, that equates to
a saving of roughly £163 a month.
Even using a portion of these savings
could fund meaningful additional
cover. For those who thought they
couldn’t afford protection previously,
framing it this way may make them
realise that, actually, now they can.
Viewed this way, protection shis
from an additional cost or sacrifice
to a pain-free way of strengthening a
client’s financial resilience.
Opportunity for advice
The refinance boom may dominate
headlines over the coming 12 months,
but it also offers a rare opportunity
to demonstrate the broader
value of advice. In a year when many
borrowers face higher repayments
and others enjoy falling costs, advisers
will need to navigate multiple client
scenarios, priorities and risks.
That is where professional advice
becomes indispensable.
With such divergent borrower
experiences converging at once,
the value of sound advice in 2026
will be huge. ●
Headlines signal a bumper year for remortgages, providing ample opportunity for protection advice
February 2026 | The Intermediary
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