PHL officially joined SHIP at the beginning of May 2006 and brings the number of SHIP members to nineteen.
Partnership Home Loans launched in May 2006 and has sought SHIP membership in order to support its plans to expand in the equity release market.
SHIP represents over 90 per cent of the equity release sector and a code of practice and rules of conduct bind all of its members. All providers who apply to join SHIP must have products and processes that comply exactly with the SHIP code and rules. This ensures that IFAs and consumers can trust the quality and integrity of products from SHIP member companies.
Jon King, chairman of SHIP, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Partnership Home Loans to SHIP. Equity release continues to be a dynamic and evolving industry and is increasingly becoming part of the financial mainstream. We welcomed two new members to SHIP in 2005 and hope 2006 will swell our numbers further.
"Our latest quarterly figures (to March 31 2006) show that flexible drawdown mortgages now account for almost a fifth of total new business, proving that innovative new products are increasingly popular with consumers.”
Steve Groves, chief actuary at Partnership Homes Loans, added: “We are very pleased to have successfully applied for membership of SHIP. As a new competitor in the equity release market we recognise the importance of the work SHIP does in bringing trust and peace of mind to our consumers. We look forward to being active in the industry via SHIP over the coming years.”
