The Intermediary –- May 2026 - Flipbook - Page 81
L AT E R L I F E L E N D I N G
Opinion
The advice gap
needs addressing
N
ot so long ago, QR
codes were considered
something of a niche
technology. While they
were invented in 1994,
they sat largely unused
for more than two decades – a solution
in search of a problem.
Then, overnight, the pandemic
changed that and they were
everywhere: restaurant menus, car
parks, GP surgeries and supermarket
checkouts. The technology hadn’t
changed. What changed was
awareness, accessibility and habit.
There are striking parallels here
with the later life lending market,
particularly equity release, a market
which is more than 60 years old but
remains largely unheard of among
most borrowers. The products and
safeguards within later life lending
have evolved significantly over
time, but awareness and adviser
engagement have not kept pace.
For proof, consider the numbers.
Borrowers aged 55 and over account
for approximately £60bn of annual
lending, if you include remortgages,
product transfers, further advances
and house purchases. By comparison,
total equity release lending was just
£2.6bn last year, according to the
Equity Release Council. Why the
difference? It’s not a lack of demand.
If anything, more and more older
homeowners need to release the equity
in their home to clear existing debts
or supplement their pension income
in retirement. It’s simply that many
borrowers either don’t realise these
products could be suitable for them
or never meaningfully discuss them
during the advice process.
As a result, this remains a market
operating far below its potential. But
with the right conditions, the equity
release market could easily reach
£9bn to £10bn of lending a year. Even
a modest increase in awareness and
referral activity among mainstream
advisers would materially expand the
market. The question the industry
should be asking is not whether a
lifetime mortgage or a retirement
interest-only (RIO) product is
suitable for all older borrowers. It’s
how many customers go through the
advice process without having ever
discussed them with their adviser.
Unfortunately, it’s more than should
be the case.
The regulator is increasingly
recognising this disconnect, too. The
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is
currently conducting a market study
into later life lending, examining how
these solutions can be beer utilised
for older borrowers. We welcome this.
Lead, don’t lag
For advisers, the temptation might
be to wait until the outcome of the
market study before reviewing your
own later life proposition. But there
are several good reasons why you
should act now.
First, it will lead to beer outcomes
for your clients. Second, Consumer
Duty already places a clear obligation
on firms to deliver good outcomes
for customers and avoid foreseeable
harm. You can’t ensure that without
considering all of the available
options. Therefore, advisers who wait
for the review’s conclusions may be
inadvertently opening themselves up
to regulatory risk.
Third, the UK’s housing wealth is
increasingly concentrated among
older homeowners, while many face
shortfalls in retirement. Advisers who
fail to engage with later life lending
risk overlooking one of the most
significant planning issues facing
clients approaching retirement.
The most frequent pushback I hear
when I speak with advisers is that
they don’t have the qualifications,
knowledge or experience to advise
their clients on later life lending
products. That’s fine, most do not. But
there is nothing stopping you from
partnering with a specialist firm that
DAVE HARRIS
is CEO at more2life
Many borrowers
either don’t realise
these products could be
suitable for them or never
meaningfully discuss
them [...] This remains
a market operating far
below its potential”
does. By doing so, you benefit your
customer, manage regulatory
risk and, at the same time, earn a
referral fee.
As a business, more2life doesn’t
believe in pushing products that don’t
fit. However, we do believe advisers
need to consider every available option
if they are to do best by their clients.
And we believe that many borrowers
aged 55 and over who want to bolster
their retirement income, support
family members, clear debts or fund
home improvements would, in many
cases, be beer served with a specialist
product designed with them in mind.
The QR code simply needed the
right moment and the right conditions
to become mainstream. Equity release
is no different.
The products are there. The
demand is there. What’s needed now
is for advisers to treat specialist later
life lending products as a holistic
financial planning tool rather than a
last resort. ●
May 2026 | The Intermediary
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