Simon Little, senior product manager at GE Life, said although he could not confirm exact details, the changes would be occurring within the next month.
He said: “We have had one lifetime mortgage deal available in the market for about three years now. We are about to crank this up and make our presence felt in the upcoming months.”
Kevin Morgan, managing director of Consilium Financial Planning, commented: “With just one lifetime product, GE Life is really just playing at it at the moment but its objective is to become a major player and it will be revamping its lifetime offering. It has the financial muscle to gain more of the market share in this sector and has broker consultants across the country.”
But Morgan added: “GE Life has made no secret of concentrating its efforts on the pensions side, so it remains to be seen how effective its push into the lifetime market will be. Lifetime is pretty much undersold at the moment and brokers would like to see more lenders entering this market.”
Dean Mirfin, business development director at Key Retirement Solutions, said: “GE Life is going through a period of re-designing itself. It wants to step up its business volumes in this sector but it needs to make its lifetime products more unique. Clients are now looking for more flexibility and sophistication from lifetime deals.”
Abbey has denied industry speculation that it will be entering the lifetime mortgage market but added it will be continually monitoring the situation.
