user.first_name
Menu

News

LV tips equity release as growth area despite 46% drop in sales

Samantha Partington
Written By:
Posted:
October 26, 2015
Updated:
October 26, 2015

LV expects equity release to be a growth area for the business next year despite suffering a 46% year-on-year fall in sales in the first nine months of the year.

Sales of equity release products were £45m in the nine months ended 30 September compared to £84m for the same period last year due to a shortage of funding generated by annuities.

In July following the release of its half year results, the friendly society said it was in talks with external sources to open up new lines of funding unconnected with the sale of annuities, the traditional form of financing equity release products.

Speaking about the latest results, Richard Rowney, managing director of LV life and pensions, said LV were very close to agreeing a funding deal and were confident once this had gone through it would be able to turn sales around in ‘almost’ a quarter.

Rowney said there was strong demand for its equity release products but it was constrained by its supply of funding.
“That [deal] effectively should provide us with enough funding to allow us to write whatever we wish to write in 2016 which is good news for LV and the equity release market because we will have broken the link [with annuities].”

LV is also looking at ways it can fund equity release mortgages from sources inside the company.

Miguel Sard talks about the new direction Shawbrook Group is taking and the uniting of its brands Bluestone Mortgages and TML.
Sponsored

Shawbrook is the specialist mortgage sector’s ‘best kept secret’ – Sard

Sponsored by Shawbrook Bank

Elsewhere in the business, protection sales grew by 35% from £155m to £209m in the nine months to September and its overall life business grew 22% from £1,102m to £1,339m.