Answers in Retirement Group (Air Group) has announced a new partnership with Knowledge Bank to create a ‘super software’ between its Air Sourcing platform for later life advisers, and Knowledge Bank’s mortgage criteria search tool.

The creation of the advanced technology is the first time a dedicated criteria platform and dedicated product sourcing platform have been integrated together in the later life lending space.

Air Sourcing indicated it already contains a significant number of criteria options to be utilised by users, but that by adding Knowledge Bank’s thousands of additional criteria, it would now give its users “unprecedented insight” into the availability and compatibility of hundreds of later life products – including retirement interest-only mortgages.

The partnership will see Knowledge Bank’s later life criteria information overlaid on top of Air Sourcing’s product results, to be utilised by advisers. Furthermore, advisers will benefit from single-point data entry, cutting down on time spent re-keying customer information as well as an enhanced compliance audit trail.

Air Group CEO, Stuart Wilson, commented: “The moulding of this new sourcing and criteria system together creates a new super software for advisers active in the later life lending space and provides a much more powerful tool in order to help them secure the most appropriate product for their clients.

“We’ve recognised the value of Knowledge Bank’s offering for some time and have seen it grow the range of criteria information it holds in the later life lending space over the past 12 to 18 months. By combining both platforms, we can provide users with an unobtrusive addition that will greatly enhance the adviser’s experience and the outcomes they are able to offer clients.

“This is a huge step forward in the later life space and we are looking forward to working with Knowledge Bank and rolling the new platform out to advisers.”

Knowledge Bank, the largest database of mortgage lending criteria in the UK, is kept up to date by lenders themselves via their own secure portals, and the system holds more than 4,000 individual pieces of criteria on equity release products alone. This is further split down into smaller detail, where lenders have multiple brands and funding lines.

Knowledge Bank founder and CEO, Nicola Firth, added: “This is an extremely exciting and powerful collaboration bringing together the two market-leading systems in their respective fields.

“Advisers in the later life sector have seen a dramatic change to the number of products available in the market over the last few years and therefore the technology to facilitate this has been developed at a rapid rate. But the impressive thing is that it has kept pace with the demands and Air Sourcing is widely recognised as the most comprehensive and feature-rich system in its field.

“This partnership will bolster that position even further ensuring that both experienced and new advisers to later life lending have everything they need at their fingertips to make confident and compliant recommendations to their clients.

“It has been a pleasure for us to work with the team at Air as their knowledge and passion for their sector is evident in every aspect of their system.”  

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