Hi Alan. In your opinion, what emerging customer behaviours or demographic shifts do you think will reshape the market by 2030?

The biggest shift is well documented: the transition from defined benefit pensions to defined contribution (DC) pensions. Many customers have not had sufficient time to build sizeable DC pension pots through auto-enrolment, while homeownership remains high. As a result, property wealth is likely to play an increasingly important role in helping people maintain their desired standard of living in retirement.

This creates an opportunity for advisers to consider property wealth as part of holistic retirement planning. However, continued market development will depend on a combination of factors, including interest rates, regulation, adviser adoption, customer understanding and industry capacity.

What role do trade bodies and regulators have to ensure that property wealth becomes a standard consideration in retirement planning?

This is one of the most important areas for the equity release market. Today, the market remains relatively small when compared with the potential customer need, and that need is likely to continue growing. A key priority across the sector is reducing barriers that prevent customers from accessing appropriate solutions.

While some factors, such as the interest rate environment, are outside our control, there is a great deal the industry can influence, including regulation, adviser education and the integration of property wealth into wider retirement planning conversations.
We continue to support the Financial Conduct Authority in their market reviews and work closely with the Equity Release Council to help ensure that the market is positioned to meet future customer demand.

How does Royal London's mutual status influence your approach?

Being a mutual allows us to take a long-term view and focus on customer outcomes. The later-life lending market continues to evolve, and we believe it is important to invest in solutions and support that help advisers meet customer needs both now and in the future.

We recently introduced the National Support Network as part of our commitment to help of all our customers, especially those who are going through a difficult time. It’s a brilliant resource and free to access for all Royal London customers.

Why is Royal London choosing to invest in property wealth solutions?

Property wealth is becoming an increasingly important consideration within holistic financial planning, particularly in retirement. By combining expertise across pensions, protection, investments and later life lending, advisers are better able to explore a wider range of options for meeting client objectives. This joined-up approach can be especially valuable when considering areas such as retirement income planning, estate planning and inheritance tax.

Equity release has had a challenging history, but the products of today are very different to the products of the past. How do you ensure that good customer outcomes are prioritised?

Our customer outcome framework is informed by our Consumer Duty reporting and uses a range of measures designed to help identify trends, monitor service quality and highlight areas requiring attention. Examples of the indicators we monitor include:

• The speed at which customers can access drawdown facilities.
• The effectiveness of identifying and supporting vulnerable customers.
• Whether customers understand the information provided to them.

These measures help us assess whether customers are receiving appropriate support and achieving good outcomes throughout their journey.

Finally, what will define success for you in the future?

Success for Royal London Equity Release will be defined by meaningful progress in several key areas: helping support the development of the market, ensuring more customers can access appropriate solutions where suitable, maintaining service quality as demand evolves, and continuing to deliver strong customer outcomes. I'll consider us successful if we can demonstrate progress across all of those areas.

If you'd like to learn more about the Royal London Equity Release products, access key resources, or to register with the business, you can visit their website.

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