Bridgewater Equity Release’s Peter Welch said the advisers that spur on equity release business are essential to the drive to educate consumers in this sector.
Welch said: “Advisers are in the prime position in terms of customer interaction to impart their knowledge and experience about equity release to a wider audience and yet the general feeling is that this should not be down to them.”
He added: “In our last survey advisers suggested that their two greatest worries were a lack of consumer education and a lack of funding; it is still the case that advisers can do little about the latter but plenty about the former and therefore to delegate responsibility to the government or providers is not the answer.”
Bridgewater Equity Release is now working towards improving government and political interest in equity release, with fundamental work coming from advisers, providers and SHIP.
“Consumer education can start at a local level and we hope that advisers take this responsibility seriously as it will be they who eventually see the benefits with an upturn in business levels,” added Welch.
His comments follow a survey, which revealed 52% of advisers said they felt advisers were responsible for the uplift in equity release business and 19% felt advisers alone are driving the market.
