As the UK lockdown begins yet a further extension, Altus turns its attention to Later Life Lending (LLL). The market stalled in 2019 but showed a strong bounce back in Q1 this year with new business up 14%. It now faces fresh challenges in the new norm.
Initially lurching to a stop in Q2 as valuation and legal services became unavailable, the market has rapidly moved on to introduce remote business standards that enable lending and protect customers.
- Whilst many of the aspects impacting wider financial services businesses are mirrored in the later life lending space, this market also possesses its own unique themes:
- Funders are exiting the market, with no set return date, reducing the competitive edge of some providers.
- Operational impacts as firms adapt to virtual environments, and increased footfall across servicing and specialised support, such as around death cases.
- Changes to industry standards to meet the demands of social distancing, such as enabling remote legal advice, valuations, and the redundancy of wet signatures.
- Organisational changes as business continuity plans are enacted or adapted as disaster recovery sites are rendered useless by social distancing.
- The pausing or reprioritising of business programmes as focus falls on keeping the lights on in BAU and supporting customers and staff alike.
- The impact of face to face advice on distribution and customer engagement.
Yet, like its peers across the financial services industry, the later life lending market has moved at speed to accommodate the changes wrought by COVID-19’s impact, whilst keeping the customer at the forefront of all activity. As the pandemic subsides, it is to be hoped that some of the more positive changes seen during this trying time can be reflected in a further restart of the marketplace.
We hope you find our latest research paper useful in helping you through the current situation. Please get in contact if you would like to discuss further.
