Designed to enhance your experience both before and during the event, the app provides everything you need for the 2nd April, including:
Event Agena
Plan your day with full details
Venue Map & Directions
Find your way to the venue
Breakout Room Booking
Do this first! Sessions must be prebooked
Hotel & Taxi Information
Travel hassle free
Charity Auction Details
Browse the items and get ready to bid!
FAQ’s & Essential Information
Find all the answers you need
Exclusive Promotional Video
Get a preview of what is to come
Access the App now via this QR Code to make the most of your day:
Royal London & Consumer Duty –A Protection Opportunity
Shelley Read, Senior Intermediary Development and Technical Manager at Royal London, considers where advisers can find protection opportunities within Consumer Duty.
A colleague shared a Thomas Edison quote a few weeks ago, which I think sums up perfectly my thoughts on Consumer Duty in the adviser market:
“Opportunity is missed by many because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work“.
The more I study Consumer Duty, the more I firmly believe it brings a massive opportunity to advisers and their firms. Focusing on good customer outcomes and showing we’ve done that will no doubt avoid risk, increase reputation, aid customer retention and increase revenue.
Let’s look at an example of each of these….
First, avoiding risk. Consumer Duty will help to avoid risk for both adviser and client. I think the focus on avoiding foreseeable harm and good outcomes will mean advisers must look at all eventualities that could cause harm or hinder their clients reaching their financial goals and objectives. This will encourage conversations around a possible solution and, in the protection space this could mean adding Critical illness, Family Income benefit or Income Protection Cover to their protection planning - or discussing features such as flexibility, underwriting niches or even indexation.
For the client having these robust protection conversations, over and above basic life cover whilst considering the risks they and their families face, will give them information to make an informed decision on how to protect their family, their home and their lifestyle.
Looking at increasing reputation, engaging clients and building a bespoke protection portfolio that evolves as their families, their jobs and their housing evolves, must increase adviser reputation. Not only amongst clients and their families but also amongst other professionals they will liaise with, such as accountants, lawyers and wealth advisers.
Advisers who also take the trouble to discuss the benefits of placing a plan in trust will most definitely put their advice head and shoulders above the majority.
That really leads me onto customer retention. Clients who are engaged, fully understand the value and reasons they took out their protection portfolio are also less likely to cancel their cover.
It seems to me that clients may be more likely to prioritise the importance of a protection plan that includes solutions that go beyond cover if they die prematurely – like diagnosis with a serious illness, injury from an accident or being unable to work long term due to ill health – and therefore maintain those premiums.
Once again policies written in trust may have a higher chance of staying in force for the duration of the plan. I think frequent reviews, and importantly ones that the client comes to expect, will also almost certainly aid customer retention.
And finally, increase revenue. We’ve heard much about signposting with regard to protection advice over recent months. Whether advisers choose to give that protection advice themselves, refer to a protection expert within their company or refer to a protection expert within their network or business community - this can result in more revenue generated.
If you require support and assistance in this area, please contact your Area Director.
In case you missed the email issued on Friday 28th February, we are delighted to once again announce details of an exclusive webinar for Just Mortgages Advisors from Royal London.
DATE: 11th March 2025 – 11am-11:40am.
In this masterclass from Royal London, they will explore the world of protection policies and trusts. Royal London will look at the trust gap in more detail as well as understanding the role trusts play in ensuring good outcomes and helping you to confidently build trusts into your advice process.
Click HERE when it is time to join.
Barclays Announce
Various Policy Changes
1. Barclays are removing the KYC Attestation Form
Barclays are delighted to share that from 4th March, the KYC Attestation form won’t be needed.
What do I need to know?
Any applications where customer ID&V is requested, and the application is for Capital Raising (which includes remortgage with additional borrowing, unencumbered remortgage & further advance) you must have seen and taken copies of original ID&V documents. Any ID&V document which includes a photograph you must confirm this is a true likeness to the applicant(s). All docs for this application type must be certified as trues copies of the originals before uploading to Barclays.
For all other applications Barclays can accept either copies of original documents, or documents which have been copied by the customer and provided to yourself electronically (emailed).
2. Right to Buy (RTB) LTV changes
Barclays will now lend up to 100% of the discounted purchase price for RTB properties, using the equity from the discount, with no additional cash deposit required.
Lending is subject to a maximum of 90% of the property’s market value.
This excludes high-value properties where a deposit is still required.
3. 90% LTV maximum loan increases
Barclays have increased the max loan amount for 90% LTV purchases for houses and flats.
The cap for houses has increased from £570k to £640k The cap for flats has increased from £275k to £310k.
LV= parent and child cover provides peace of mind for young
families
The latest Reaching Resilience report from LV= shows that 2 in 3 parents are worried about the prospect of their child being seriously ill1.
Included at no extra cost with their Income Protection, parent and child cover offers peace of mind for young families. It pays a lump sum payment of 6 times their monthly cover – up to a maximum payment of £25,000 if their child has one of 54 specified illnesses or medical procedures. This gives parents breathing space to take time off work to care for their child.
The data used in the Reaching Resilience report comes from a survey of 2,270 nationally representative UK adults conducted for LV= by Opinium between 15 – 25 October 2024.
Kent Reliance | Landlord tax explained
The Landlord Leaders Community is a membership group of individuals convened by OSB Group and focused on creating a fairer and more sustainable private rental sector. They've teamed up with one of the UK's leading property tax accountants, UK Landlord Tax, to share their expert advice on the tax implications of managing a property portfolio.
This guide is broken down into easily digestible sections:
Limited Company SPV
Understanding inheritance tax
Growing your portfolio
You can share this with your customers to help them make sense of landlord tax implications.
Simply click below to access the guide:
Skipton improve their eMortgages system
You can now see your uploaded documents on eMortgages with Skipton
Skipton Building Society has listened to your feedback, and you can now view any previously uploaded documents on eMortgages! By saying goodbye to email chains, you and your client will hopefully go from application to offer even quicker than before with Skipton.
You can now view all your documents, the file names and date/time you uploaded them in eMortgages. And you can also mark everything you’ve supplied, letting Skipton’s underwriters know what’s outstanding, so they can get a faster decision for your client
What do first time buyers look like to you?
James Enos, national account manager at Hodge, takes a closer look at the profile of modern-day first-time buyers and the unique challenges they face in today's housing market.
Young, fresh-faced couples in their 20s excitedly viewing the latest new build show homes? A picture that likely springs to mind, but perhaps a little outdated with the average age of first-time buyers in the UK now at 34 - and older still in cities like London, where purchase prices are higher.
Check out Hodge’s latest blog where James takes a closer look at the profile of modern-day first time buyers and the unique challenges they face in today's housing market.
As you know, Hodge is committed to providing flexible mortgage solutions that work for today’s borrows, whatever stage of life they’re in. Reach out to your local Hodge BDM if you’d like to find out more about how its Resi and Resi Retire mortgage solutions can support your clients from age 21 right up to and into retirement.
