Royal London has announced it is entering the equity release market having partnered with later life mortgage adviser, Responsible Life.

The Royal London later life lending service, which will be operated by Responsible Life, will provide customers with access to impartial and holistic advice on a range of later life mortgages.

The advice will also provide customers with access to equity release mortgages, retirement interest only mortgages and retirement mortgages. Royal London suggested that drawing upon thousands of products available across all of the later life lending categories will ensure that borrowers can explore all their options under one simple advice process.

“Equity release is becoming an increasingly important source of retirement funding, as more people aged over 55 look to unlock some of the money tied up in their home,” Royal London head of equity release, Laura McOscar, commented.

“We chose Responsible Life as our partner because their customer centric approach aligns with our values. We’re confident that consumers will receive high quality advice on retirement mortgages, allowing them to make an informed choice on the option that is best suited to their individual needs.”

Earlier this year, Responsible Life announced that it had become the first broker to introduce a service that looked at mortgages from each of the three different product categories before making recommendations to customers – aligning with the FCA’s recommendations following a recent review of the equity release advice process.

Responsible Life executive chairman, Steve Wilkie, added: “Royal London is putting itself at the forefront of a huge shift away from product-specific advice in favour of broker recommendations that consider every type of later life lending.

“This is hugely important. Equity release products have never been more competitive but that doesn’t mean they’re suitable for everyone. We will be recommending equity release products as part of this partnership but not at the expense of customers’ best interests. We are convinced this approach will become the norm and our collaboration with Royal London is a huge endorsement of this revolution in financial advice.”

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