Celebrating 25 years

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Matt McGill

Hi, my name is Matt McGill. I'm the Equity Release Director here at Aviva. I've been in this role now for two years.

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Graham Evans

My name is Graham Evans. I'm Chief Compliance Officer here at Equity Release Supermarket.

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Graham Evans

In 1997 I joined Aviva.

00:00:17:06 - 00:00:19:00

Graham Evans

I was a financial adviser.

00:00:19:01 - 00:00:21:07

Graham Evans

And in 1998, of course, Aviva launched

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Graham Evans

equity release. So, I was at the forefront of it.

00:00:24:01 - 00:00:32:24

Matt McGill

The equity release market has evolved massively over the last 25 years. We've almost seen a complete transformation of this industry.

00:00:32:24 - 00:00:56:10

Matt McGill

We've seen a real growth in the regulation that exists around this market and that really drives consumer protection. We've seen the FCA’s focus on that, we've seen the formation and the growth of the Equity Release Council, and through that a real drive for increased standards both in terms of the products that are offered, but also the quality of the advice that is given.

00:00:56:10 - 00:01:09:24

Graham Evans

Over the last 25 years, I've seen the customer demographic change and I've seen their needs and objectives change. I think at first it was just a simple one-off lump sum solution, so customers didn't have a lot of flexibility and choice.

00:01:09:24 - 00:01:16:22

Graham Evans

Of course, over the 25 years, there are different products and solutions that have come along as well.

00:01:16:22 - 00:01:29:16

Graham Evans

So, it's really important as an adviser or a broker to listen to your customers, get to know them, find out what they want during their retirement plans, and then build a solution around them.

00:01:29:16 - 00:01:39:20

Matt McGill

We know that as customers come through retirement, they are going to have to access more and more different sources of funding to be able to afford the retirement they want,

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Matt McGill

and equity release will be a key product that enables that retirement.

00:01:45:12 - 00:02:05:10

Matt McGill

I think as this market evolves, as we look to the future, customers will have to consider the totality of their needs and advisers will really have to think about that. So, how we bring those products, services and all the advice offerings together to really enable customer outcomes I think is going to be absolutely essential for the future.

00:02:05:20 - 00:02:11:20

Graham Evans

Well, here at Equity Release Supermarket. We see the future of equity release without any shadow of a doubt.

00:02:11:22 - 00:02:38:10

Graham Evans

It's now a solution where people say well, I didn't manage to build up enough in my pension pot, but I did manage to build, you know, a huge amount of equity or just a small amount of equity in the home. So yeah, over the 25 years I've had a fantastic time with equity release from it being a niche product now to be of course mainstream flexible product with lots of different benefits for customers.