Master Later Life Lending - By Air

Georgina Oxton: Shaping the future of later life lending

• Will Hale • Season 1 • Episode 1

Share episode

Send us your feedback!

In this Comprehensive conversation, our CEO Will Hale sits down with  Georgina Oxton, Divisional Manager for Equity Release at LV=, this episode explores how LV= is broadening its proposition, supporting customers beyond completion, and equipping advisers with the tools to deliver lasting value and build long-term client relationships.

View our manifesto.

Follow us on Linkedin.

SPEAKER_02:

So welcome everyone to the next in our series of comprehensive conversations with industry leaders in the later life lending sector. I'm here, Track Side at Silverstone, as part of the Air Conference for 2025, and I'm joined by George from LV. Welcome, George.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks very much. We're really glad to be here.

SPEAKER_02:

Good stuff. Well, great to see you. Starting off, George, we've got a lot of sort of new members to Air, a lot of people who are perhaps sort of new to the market. So they might not know a lot about you, they might not know a lot about LV. So as a starter, can you introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about your role, tell us a bit about LV strategy as well for the later life lending market.

SPEAKER_00:

Of course, no problem. So my role at LV, I run the sales team for later life lending. So that's our telephony people and our face-to-face people. So on and off, been at LV for 26 years now. And it also had a spell at a specialist advisory firm as head of business development. So I think for me, what that gives me is a perspective on both sides of the fence, if that makes sense. So what it's like to work for a product provider, but also understanding a bit more about the needs of advisors.

SPEAKER_02:

I think it's really important, isn't it, to have that perspective. I certainly think sometimes advisors feel that sometimes lenders don't fully understand what it means to sort of run an advice business. So it's great to hear you've you've got that experience.

SPEAKER_00:

And actually bringing that back into the business was super helpful for me. So in terms of strategy at LV, we we're absolutely focused on broadening and growing our proposition in the later life lending space. So looking at other products that we can bring to market, also looking at areas of the market that we're not currently playing in. So whether that's age, whether that's LTV, and also just really broadening that product set in order to support customers with evolving needs through later life. So it's about better serving them as their needs change. We know what they need from us on day one, but what do they need three years, five years, ten years down the line when they've lost a partner, when they've got um income challenges, whatever it may be. So definitely a really strong focus on how we can put our arms around a customer post-completion and make sure that the products work with them.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, but it's a product that can last for 30 or 40 years in some. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00:

And think about how long your life might, how how much your life may change in that period of time.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I think a couple of other key areas of focus for us are the growing pensions gap. So, how can we better support customers with their income requirements in later life? Um, you know, we know that the pensions gap is growing, we know that the gender pensions gap is is even larger, so that's definitely an area of focus. And I think the last thing that we're really focusing on over the next year or two is that intergenerational wealth transfer. So, how can we make that easy for customers? How can our products evolve to make that um a much more straightforward uh task?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you've certainly had a great start to this year, I think, in the later life lending space. So a lot of our members are noticing, particularly the the increased volumes you're writing. So it sounds like the strategy is certainly sort of playing playing through well at the moment.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, really exciting, really exciting, great start to the year and just lots of other medium and long-term things for us to be thinking about and planning.

SPEAKER_02:

So so going back to maybe what we're saying about advisors and the sort of difficulties that that they're facing at the moment, I think one of the sort of key features of the market has been the volatility in rates that we've seen over the last 12 months. I think even as we sit here today, I mean, who knows where rates are going to be in a week or two weeks' time. So perhaps sort of next question would be you know, what counsel would you maybe be able to offer advisors around how they can navigate these periods and still deliver really good outcomes for customers?

SPEAKER_00:

So I think that's a really interesting point. I mean, you know, you all know yourself we've seen uh customer rates swing from record-breaking lows to uh never seen before highs, probably in the space of 12 to 24 months. And I think it's for me, it's about resetting all of our expectations. I think uh current customer rates are probably the new normal, certainly for the medium term. So, my counsel to advisors would be be confident with your customers, be reassuring. It's not we shouldn't be shying away from the interest rates that we're offering now. They are fixed for life generally. Um so be confident, be reassuring. And then I think on that volatility point, Will, it's it's about keeping on top of what's going on in the market. Make sure you have a strong network of support with your um your lender partners, make sure that you are completely tuned in to when rates are changing, when deadlines are coming up.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

If you can re-engage with customers, that's a really strong call to action if rates are going to be um expiring and rates may then be going up. So that that is diligent, that is uh confident, that is reassuring for customers.

SPEAKER_02:

I I think you've hit the nail on the head. I mean, for me, it's about that engagement with customers and educating them as well. I mean, your point around, you know, we've gone from a period where rates are at historic lows to historic highs in such a short period. I think we know that consideration periods for customers in our market can be quite extended. So the customer may have come in, inquired, and seen rates at 2.5%, and then come back six months, 12 months later and seen them at six and a half, seven percent. So an advisor needs to really sort of educate a customer as to why that's happened and give them confidence. If the product's the right product, it can be the right product at six and a half percent as equally as it would have been at two and a half percent.

SPEAKER_00:

But these products still have the power to change lives, um, you know, wherever interest rates are sitting, and I think it is that confidence point for me, helping customers understand the things that are driving that volatility in rates and those changes in rates.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, good. And sort of moving on a little bit, but you you talked about in your introduction, sort of LV sort of strategy, and it was good to see actually you you were talking more broadly, not just about sort of product features, but more broadly about sort of service. So in terms of sort of innovations that you'd like to see in the next sort of couple of years, sort of where where would you see your focus being? Is it on product or service or something else?

SPEAKER_00:

I would say it's a bit of both, in fairness. I think um improving the customer and the advisor journey is a huge area of focus for us. So I talked about the evolving customer need.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, so you know, what do they need now? What do they need in three years' time? What happens if something unexpected comes along? So one of the uh pieces of uh repeated feedback we get from customers is that they would like a portal, a customer portal. Um, and actually that's probably a mindset change, isn't it? Traditionally, we've probably all expected customers not to be particularly IT savvy, not to be wanting an app or a portal to be able to manage their plans. That's certainly we're getting much stronger demand for that now. So we're in the early stages of a feasibility uh study on that to have a look at what we can deliver quickly, what we can deliver in in future phases. So the vision there is being able to get redemption statements, being able to look at a current balance, being able to make a partial repayment, even doing a full redemption. Um so um that's a really, really exciting piece of work.

SPEAKER_02:

It feels like we're quite a long way behind some other areas of financial services, doesn't it? And your comment that about sort of perceptions of older customers and what they need is is really interesting because I mean one of our keynote speakers today is talking about over 50s customers and how we sometimes maybe sort of misunderstand them. Yeah. Because most of them are engaging initially through online channels. Yep. They're used to managing their bank account online, so isn't it very natural that they'd want to manage their equity release mortgage online as well? So I th I think you'd again, I think it sounds like you're really sort of pinpointing the right areas to look at.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And then I think the other thing is we are doing an end-to-end process review. So there we'll be looking at all of the advisor and customer touch points and saying, right, you know, we've had an online portal now for three, four years. Um, we designed our processes to look in a particular way at that time, but what needs to change? What isn't working? What can we automate? Where could we use AI, for example? Um, so that will be a hugely exciting piece of work to look at those little 1% tweaks that will make a difference to the overall experience.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we'd love to try and help you with that. I say with our members, they're always keen to give views and the pictures of the state. They are indeed. Yeah. You know, if we can help sort of shape some of that, we'd be delighted to do that. Fantastic. It all sounds really exciting. Yep. Um, so looking again, sort of back up a level, sort of more broadly, and the broader market. So we've seen quite a challenging period, haven't we? I mean, ever since sort of the end of 2022 and that disastrous mini budget by uh Liz Trust hasn't been enough in the past.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Um we've really seen a market which has been constrained, hasn't it? So it's gone from what 6.2 to maybe sort of 2.3 billion, something something like that. So what do you think are the key drivers for that? And and what do you think of the prospects looking forward, maybe not just the next 12 months, but maybe the next five, ten years?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, honestly, I feel incredibly optimistic about the future. I think um, you know, if you look at the Equity Release Council statistics, we're definitely seeing the green sheets of recovery. Lots of advisors that I speak to in the course of my work are talking about increased customer demand. We're certainly seeing um some really, really good signs there. Um, will we get back quickly to those heady levels of business, you know, that you were referring to, the six billion pound plus market in the short term? Probably not. Um, but but incredibly optimistic and we are absolutely investing in what we do now because we are confident that that market is there. The need is absolutely there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That doesn't go away.

SPEAKER_02:

No, and I think we would touch on it on a number of sessions in the conference, but I think it's really encouraging. The mood music from the regulator seems to have changed. Some of the quotes from Nicole Rathey when he spoke of the JP Morgan conference, or more recently, one of the um FCA representatives at the Building Society conference, they're all recognising, I think, that housing equity has to play a bigger role in terms of people's retirement planning, and it and it can't be a product of last resort, it has to be a more normalized solution for more people, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

So absolutely, and I think um it's a good moment to just pause and reflect on the FARA Finance report that came out very recently. And I think that it that's definitely gathering momentum. There was a really strong uh call to action there for the regulator to to really help to signpost to customers that housing, wealth, other asset pools should all be considered as part of that retirement planning piece. So I I for any market participants now, I think that's absolutely essential reading. Um so absolutely we we just need to move on and we need to carry on supporting those customers.

SPEAKER_02:

And actually that leads me on to one of the questions I wanted to raise. So you you sort of touched on there some of the sort of findings from the Fairer Finance report, but what would you or LV like to see from government or regulators or trade bodies in terms of really supporting the market to achieve its potential?

SPEAKER_00:

So I think um getting behind those fairer finance um uh recommendations will be an absolutely critical first step. I mean, at the Equity Release Council summit recently there were uh people from various regulatory bodies and interested parties who were talking in a very supportive way about that, but we need to turn that into action. That's the next thing. I think for me the biggest challenge now is um there is a pensions dashboard being worked on. Where is the solution that will help a customer see every asset pool in its entirety and be able to make decisions about flexible decisions?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

About do I take some of this now, some of my housing equity? Should I liquidate some of my investments? What's my tax position? And being able to see all of that in one platform will be enormously helpful for advisors. Agree. And I think drive the right customer outcomes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, no, I completely agree with that. And and again, it was drawn on out in the Farrah Finance report, but one of the things we always hear in the sector is that there's whilst there's a real need for this product, customer awareness is still sort of very low. So you know, I know the likes of Key and other specialists in the market, age, you know, their marketing budgets have been slashed completely. So how do we as a sector build that customer awareness, do you think? And and what I mean, LV has got a great customer brand. What what role could LV play in that process?

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's absolutely critical that we all work together on that. Education is is definitely something that we have all identified, we are all doing work on, but there's more that we can do. I think the the point you've made there about the low awareness is is absolutely spot on. Um it for us, what comes through from our customer research really strongly, and there's two different types of research that we run at LV. So we run a post-sale suitability report, which is where we are engaging with customers post-completion to make sure that they understand um what they've bought, how it works, what was the communication like, what was the advice journey, why did they choose that product, or why were they advised to take that product? And what's coming out of there and our consumer wealth and well-being survey is that a trusted brand is such a powerful part of an acceptance of a recommendation and that confidence that that provider is going to be there. So I think um we we're very much focused on that education piece, we're very much focused on supporting those advisors in this market to be able to reach out and speak to more customers in whatever way they choose. Yeah, um, and that's why we've developed our marketing toolkit to be able to help them spread the word.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think things like the marketing toolkit is really important, and we have our own resources at air, and we're we're also trying to sort of plug advisors into other third parties that can help. So, again, at today's conference, we've got sort of lead generators, we've got Phil Calvert, who's an expert consultancy sort of person in this area. I think advisors sometimes it's about being proactive, and you know, that awareness can start at a very local level. It absolutely can. So it doesn't have to be big broad brush TV campaigns or expensive. No, no, it can be very sort of local and engaged. So it's definitely, I think, a call to action for every advisor to really think about you know how they can go out and engage with people and spread the word.

SPEAKER_00:

There is, and I think now is a really good time for advisors to invest in themselves and upskill. Um, things are quieter than we've experienced um in the recent past. So, you know, reach out to your providers, reach out to organisations such as Air. There is a wealth of support and educational tools there to help you prospect, to help you understand the market. Um, and I think now is the perfect time to be doing that.

SPEAKER_02:

Completely agree. So, whilst we're on that sort of uh an ask of advisors, another area I just wanted to explore finally was around the efficiency of processing business. So I know a real frustration for many advisors, but for lenders as well, is the amount of cancellations we have between application and completion. What are your observations around that? And what could advisors be doing to make your lives easier as a lender, but make make their lives easier as well in terms of driving more efficiency in their process?

SPEAKER_00:

So I think there's probably two key things there for me. I think the first one, I mentioned it before, advisors having that support network amongst product providers, I think is critical. Understanding the nuances of product features, lending criteria, the the small print in terms and conditions. I think the devil's in the detail. So engage with those sales teams who know those products inside out. Because if as an advisor you know those products inside out, um, you will be much better equipped to talk to your customers. Um, I think the other thing for me is lean on those pre-application checking services. One of the things that we um we look at uh in quite a lot of detail is why a case has um been declined, if it has been declined, where in the process and what happened before that. So is it post-valuation? Is it pre-valuation? Did we see it pre-application? And you'd be really surprised that a significant proportion of those that we decline pre-am post-valuation, we haven't seen before the application's been submitted.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, we all have a pre-application service through our underwriting teams, and and we've always uh approached that as let's reduce the nasty surprises down the line. If we can do the underwriting work up front, be really clear with an advisor and then in turn with their customers about the documentation that we might need, any changes to perhaps leases, that kind of thing. We're doing all that up front. The whole process is much, much more straightforward. So I'd say they're my two things to focus on.

SPEAKER_02:

Super. Well, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you to you today. Thank you very much for sharing your your insight. Some really good sort of pointers there for advisors in terms of how to grow their business and grow their business sustainably. So thank you very much for that. And thank you to you for watching this latest in our series of comprehensive conversations. I hope the noise of the F3 cars in the background just added to the experience, and uh look forward to seeing you again.