Air and Mortgage Brain have agreed a collaboration designed to help mortgage advisers assess mainstream and specialist lending options for older borrowers through their respective sourcing platforms.
The arrangement will allow advisers using Mortgage Brain to move into Air’s later life lending sourcing system when specialist products may be appropriate for a client.
Equally, advisers working primarily through Air will be directed towards Mortgage Brain to assess whether mainstream mortgage products could offer a more suitable alternative to equity release.
The collaboration is intended to encourage advisers to consider a wider range of borrowing options, taking account of individual circumstances, affordability, eligibility and the comparative cost of different products.
Where specialist later life lending is considered appropriate, mainstream advisers will be able to progress a recommendation or refer the customer to a specialist partner.
CONNECTING MAINSTREAM AND SPECIALIST ADVICE
The agreement brings together Mortgage Brain’s distribution network of 15,000 advisers and more than 100 lenders with Air’s membership of more than 10,000.
It reflects growing recognition of the need for closer links between mainstream mortgage advice and the specialist later life lending market, particularly as the range of borrowing options available to older homeowners develops.
By connecting the two sourcing systems, the companies aim to reduce the barriers advisers face when researching products outside their usual areas of expertise.
The initiative also forms part of Air’s wider investment in technology to support advisers, which was a central theme of its Air Evolve Summit on 7 October.
The event examined how technology, including artificial intelligence, could reduce administrative workloads, improve client communications and allow advisers to devote more time to providing advice.
Will Hale, chief executive of Air, says: “We’re excited to be starting this new collaboration with Mortgage Brain, aligning later life lending to wider mainstream advice through the effective leveraging of technology.
“Mortgage Brain’s track record in innovation and breadth of distribution relationships make them the perfect partner for us, and we look forward to demonstrating that there is room for specialist sourcing platforms to work alongside mainstream players to assist advisers reach the most suitable recommendation.”
Neil Wyatt, chief commercial officer at Mortgage Brain, says: “We’re pleased to enhance our later life lending proposition through this collaboration with Air.
“This latest partnership with the leading brand in the later life lending space helps to widen our offering while also making advisers’ lives easier, enabling them to focus on delivering great client outcomes and being able to evidence a holistic approach.
“This is an important step in bridging the gap between specialists and mainstream advisers and we look forward to working with Air, their members and the lifetime mortgage providers featured on their platform alongside our lender and distribution partners to support the safe growth of the market.”
