The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has welcomed the recognition in the Turner Report on pensions that housing assets are important in the context of retirement income but has said the report fails to suggest how these assets could be leveraged to greater effect.
Laurence Baxter, CML senior policy adviser, said: “There is a great deal that could be done to ensure equity release becomes a more mainstream part of the retirement income mix. With a current market size of only £4.6 billion but unmortgaged equity of £1.15 trillion, the potential for equity release in retirement income is huge but untapped.”
HBOS confirms data verification on sourcing systems
The five HBOS mortgage brands – Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Intelligent Finance, Birmingham Midshires and TMB – have clarified their positions on verifying product data held on sourcing systems.
HBOS confirmed it is working with four sourcing systems – Mortgage Brain, Trigold, Mortgage Link and Mortgage 2000 – to verify all product data held on their individual systems. All products will be marked for ease of intermediary use. HBOS expects this new system of product verification to be fully in place early in 2006.
C&G to launch broker sales force
Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) has announced plans to create a flexible intermediary sales force to improve its service to the IFA marketplace.
Following a strategic review, C&G is overhauling its branch-led approach to intermediaries by deploying sales managers to ensure greater coverage around the country so that sales managers are where they are needed. The direct mortgage sales teams for the C&G and Lloyds TSB networks are also to be bought together.
