In June last year SHIP announced that from 1 August 2007 members will no longer accept any business from advisers who have not passed the appropriate lifetime mortgages exams.
SHIP welcomed research it did, working with the Chartered Institute of Insurers (CII) and ifs: School of Finance, that showed since April 2005 6,019 individuals have taken and passed the lifetime mortgages examination, and of these individuals it is estimated that roughly two-thirds are IFAs. SHIP said it is encouraging to see a large number of IFAs have already sat and passed the exam, and hopefully many others will do the same before the summer deadline.
Jon King, chief executive at SHIP, commented: “SHIP has always striven to improve standards in equity release and as a result took the decisions last year to make lifetime mortgage examinations mandatory; taking effect from August 2007.
“To date, over 6000 have passed these exams but many more are required to meet the demand. We urge advisers to take advantage of the opportunity presented by equity release and the demand from consumers and start sitting exams well ahead of formal regulation.”
