Equity release adviser Key has appointed Rachel East as head of advice sales: whole of market.

East (pictured) joins with experience in retail banking and the regulated arena at a variety of different organisations including Santander and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Throughout her time working in the banking industry, she has been responsible for advice, sales and growth of the regulated mortgage market, specifically across telephony, digital and face to face channels.

East has held senior leadership roles for more than 10 years across various established retail banks. At Key, she will be responsible for leading the team of whole of market regional managers with a focus on helping Key’s field based advisers achieve their targets.

She will report to Ian English, Key’s advice delivery director.

Will Hale, CEO of Key, said: “With the equity release and broader later life lending markets continuing to grow rapidly, it is essential that we have the right people in place to ensure  evolve our advice proposition and offer a consistently high level of service to our customers.

“Rachel will use her experience to help us continue to build our offering and develop our people.  She will be a great asset to our team as well as our customers and I look forward to working with her.” 

East added: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining Key at such an exciting time. I am passionate about people, leadership and progression so I will be looking to influence this at a rapid pace. It’s a fantastic opportunity to help customers with their later life lending needs and to be a part of a growing business which is a leader in its field.

“The equity release sector is rapidly growing and I look forward to collaborating with the team to ensure that consumers continue to be able to rely on us to help them make the right choices around their property wealth in later life.”