SHIP said it has been consulting the industry informally since January 2011 involving stakeholders, including intermediaries, providers, representative bodies, not-for profit organisations and legal services firms.
The consultation sought feedback on the shape of the body the industry wants and a Formation Committee – headed by Paul Smee, formerly of the ABI and AIFA – has been set up to develop a blueprint for how this organization might look.
The review will report its findings in Q3 2011.
Andrea Rozario, director general at SHIP, (pictured) said: “With SHIP celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, it is the ideal time to review what we have achieved and how we can help the industry grow in the future.”
She added the safeguards SHIP insists on are paramount and remain at the heart of everything SHIP does.
She added: “We are very pleased that Paul Smee will help to develop a blueprint as to how a broader representative body might work. He is highly respected in the financial services arena and is the ideal person to help us to evolve as an industry. “
Paul Smee, chairman of the SHIP Formation Committee, said: “I am pleased to have been appointed to head the Formation Committee which will look to build on this good work and develop a blueprint on which to build a stronger industry.”
Vanessa Owen, LV= head of equity release said: “As an active member of the formation committee we are delighted that someone of Paul’s calibre has taken up the challenge, to help us steer this change programme. There is a way to go yet but we are confident with his guidance we will be able to build a robust organisation to continue to take the Equity Release industry forward.”
Paul is the ex-chief executive of UK Payments, a post which he held for six years and was the first director general of the Association of IFAs, formed in 1999 and one of the founders of AMI, the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries.
