Later Life Lending

Industry challenge

With the UK’s ageing demographic, more and more consumers will be entering retirement without the necessary pension and investment wealth to fund their lives into later life. Accessing housing wealth is invariably going to become a requisite option for consumers and a number of inefficiencies need to be dealt with to ensure consumers are able to access the right product through the right advice channels for their needs.

Group purpose

The Later Life Lending industry is currently very fragmented when it comes to the products and advice propositions that are available. Housing wealth needs to sit alongside other staple sources of wealth (pensions and investments) in the minds of consumers.

Areas of focus

• Consensus reached on TISA Policy Manifesto positioned with regards to Later Life Lending. TISA will be calling for: i) Greater collaboration between advisers/brokers that are currently operating in silos (through formal hand-offs and referrals), ii) MAPS make better Later Life guidance available to consumers; iii) Wealth advisers to consider the role that housing wealth can play in financial planning for their clients; iii) the FCA to provide more clarity on the types of practices they consider to be poor, in order to encourage standards to be lifted; iv) the Later Life industry to address commission bias in the advice process.
• Formulation of 2024 planning commenced with the working group.
• Convene the industry for greater – holistic – collaboration on key issues impacting the sector, making LLL products and solutions more mainstream for consumers
• Comprehensive exploration of whether new Consumer Duty will solve Industry Standard issues carried out. Conclusion reached that Consumer Duty is not likely to address many current industry practices getting in the way of consumers obtaining optimal outcome when wishing to utilise home equity to supplement retirement savings shortfalls. Discussions with members underway as to support for TISA to produce a new Best Practice guide for Later Life Lending advisers/lenders
• TISA continues to advise MAPS’ Later Life Advisory Panel to help build a Later-Life guidance proposition
• Discussion relating to recent FCA published findings on their review of Later Life advisory and promotions. It was felt that the FCA needs to be clearer on types of practices deemed poor (not clear in their publication).
• TISA has continued to feed into the guidance proposition work being carried out by MAPS (on their new Later Life guidance proposition). Work is progressing well, though timing of MAPS launch uncertain.
• Further exploration carried out on how and whether Consumer Duty implementation by firms will solve poor Industry practices.
• TISA Policy Manifesto positions formulated with regards to Later Life Lending. TISA will be calling for: i) Greater collaboration between advisers/brokers currently operating in silos (through formal hand-offs and referrals), ii) MAPS make better Later Life guidance available to consumers; iii) Wealth advisers to consider the role that housing wealth can play in financial planning for their clients; iii) the FCA to provide more clarity on the types of practices they consider to be poor, in order to encourage standards to be lifted; iv) the Later Life industry to address commission bias in the advice process.

Aviva Investors

Aviva UK Insurance

Canada Life Ltd

Equiniti

L & G

LV=

OneFamily

Phoenix Group

Square 4 Partners

St James’s Place Wealth Management

Unbiased

Prakash Chandramohan,
Strategic Policy Director leads on this work at TISA