Mortgages4Life has received full regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The Peterborough-based company is looking to offer a range of residential and lifetime mortgage products aimed at underserved older borrowers. Products will be available through financial advisers and mortgage brokers only.
The business is headed by chief executive Simon Little, who has worked in the UK financial services industry for nearly 30 years, including spells at GE Life and Canada Life. He has been a director of SHIP (Safe Home Income Plans, now known as the Equity Release Council).
“We are delighted to have received regulatory approval, which is a major milestone for the business. Clearly there is a significant amount for us still to achieve and the team is working extremely hard to ready Mortgages4Life for launch,” he said.
The Mortgages4Life board also includes Simon Whitehead as chief financial officer, previously of MGM Advantage and Partnership Assurance, and Sue Burgess as chief operating officer. She has worked at Linear Financial Services, Linear Mortgage Network and Home & Capital.
The firm has also hired Phil Regan as head of underwriting. He has over 25 years’ experience in the mortgage business, having worked for lenders such as Lloyds Banking Group, ING, Principality Building Society and Hodge Lifetime.
Little added: “We are assembling a strong and credible team who understand the broker market and what their customers need. We can’t wait to announce our innovative range of residential and lifetime mortgages as older borrowers have been underserved for far too long, with few real options available to those who wish to borrow money against their property or indeed move house in later life.”
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, said: “It is always pleasing to see a new lender entering the mortgage market and especially so in the older borrower market, a low risk sector very badly served by major lenders.
“We have been working with Mortgages4Life as they refine their product offering and are excited about the innovation they are seeking to bring to the market, including out of the box thinking on assessing affordability. For this assessment lenders need to react to the major pension changes introduced last year and, recognising it is crucial to get right, Mortgages4life has devised a sensible, but nevertheless easy to understand solution. We wish Mortgages4Life well as they ready themselves for launch.”
