Age Partnership has announced the senior appointment of an executive director of switching, Matt Stirland, who will guide the switching department and support further growth.

The appointment follows g the launch of Age Partnership’s industry wide switching service at the end of April. The equity release adviser says it subsequently has been contacted by thousands of people hoping to move to a lower-interest loan.

Justin Wysocki, Age Partnership’s CRO, said: “Matt has been with us for two years, holding the position of head of equity release. His wealth of experience and knowledge in the sector made him an obvious fit for the executive director role.

“Given the rapid growth in the volume of clients looking to have their plans reviewed, this is a huge role and Matt has already started to build on the existing switching team as we don’t expect demand for this service to slow down any time soon.”

Stirland added: “This is an exciting new role for both the business and myself as switching is going through such a rapid growth period at the minute. Since taking up my new role I have appointed 4 additional advisers to the switching team, taking it from 12 to 16. The new members are currently going through specialist training to enable them to provide the highest standard of advice to clients looking to move plans. In addition, we are also increasing the support functions within the team with the appointment of switching administrators and customer solutions specialists.

“It’s really clear that the vast majority of people who have contacted us about their existing equity release loans didn’t previously realise that they had an option to move plans. Some of these people are set to save tens of thousands of pounds over the life of their loan. It’s our responsibility as advisers to nurture a long term relationship with our clients, making sure that their plans remain fit for purpose at all stages of their life and personal circumstances.

“Switching plans may not be the right option for every client, but until we have that conversation we won’t be aware and some clients are in danger of missing out on huge potential savings.”