WTW, which provides professional consulting services as well as data-driven, insight-led business solutions in the areas of people, risk, and capital, has joined the Equity Release Council.
For insurers, advisors, and industry participants, WTW provides solutions to contemporary regulatory issues brought by the treatment of equity release. The firm consults with significant market players on a wide range of equity release issues, including matching adjustment structuring, internal model and EVT in stress methodology creation, internal rating and valuation modelling, and new product efforts.
With the addition of WTW, the Council now has 678 members, including product providers, financial advisers, solicitors, surveyors, and other professionals involved in all aspects of the equity release market. In the last year, membership has increased by 42 per cent.
The expanding popularity of equity release as a mainstream product offered by an increasing number of enterprises to address different consumer demands in later life, from financial planning and intergenerational gifting to debt consolidation, is reflected in the Council’s skyrocketing membership numbers.
Modern equity release solutions provide elder homeowners safe and flexible financing, supported by strong safeguards that have been in place for 30 years.
In 2021, over 75,000 new and returning clients used equity release products to access historic amounts of property wealth, with total yearly loans reaching £4.8bn, up 24 per cent year on year.
Equity Release Council CEO Jim Boyd says: “WTW is a welcome addition to our growing community of members, which is unique in that it brings together perspectives from across the market and encompasses all aspects of the customer journey.
“Our members’ input and expertise is vital to enhance equity release’s standing in the wider financial services industry, where it has become an important part of product portfolios and advice propositions for any firm with serious ambitions to meet the needs of older consumers in the round.
“WTW’s commitment to the market’s development as a Council member will help other firms to operate effectively and meet the expected increase in consumer demand for flexible products backed by stringent safeguards and protections.”
WTW insurance investment director Anthony Plotnek says: “We are delighted to be joining the Equity Release Council as affiliate members to further support the growth and innovation of a key consumer product which provides long-term investors with a valuable asset. Our team of specialist advisors has a unique understanding of the issues faced with sourcing, modelling and managing equity release assets, and we look forward to sharing our learning from the challenges we have experienced both as advisors and in-house on projects across several annuity writers with ERM exposure.”
