Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP), the equity release trade body, has called for feedback from advisers and other interested financial services organisations on what can be done to ensure the future success of the equity release market.
SHIP said the feedback will play an integral part in its policy consultation process which is due to result in the publication of a Discussion Paper this summer. SHIP said it would like to hear from all advisers and financial services organisations who advise on equity release schemes in this sector even if they are not currently active in the market.
The trade body requested feedback on what firms see as the major barriers to the growth of the equity release market, whether they consider consumers have reasonable access to equity release, what the role of the adviser is in the equity release process, and if this a role which needs to change. Further information is available on the SHIP website, www.ship-ltd.org.
Andrea Rozario, director general of SHIP, commented: “It is very important for us to talk to everyone who is involved and interested in the equity release process, in order to make sure that we have considered all viewpoints. We hope that advisers will be able to communicate the factors that sway a customer’s equity release decision, one way or another.
“It is equally important for us to hear from those not yet operating in the equity release market, to discover what they consider are the barriers to entry.”
