The Right Mortgage & Protection Network has announced the appointment of a new protection development team member who will work with appointed representative (AR) firms to boost protection penetration in the businesses.

Phil Daves joins the network with immediate effect and will work with those AR firms who want to improve protection volumes, or those who wish to set up dedicated referral partners in order to ensure their clients get the professional protection advice they need.

Daves is also the company director of AR firm, Mortgage Sure Ltd, which is already within The Right Mortgage & Protection Network, and he specialises in protection as well as the provision of mortgage advice. Prior to this, he was a financial adviser in Lloyds Bank, starting in 2004 in the pension and investment space, before switching to protection.

Amanda Wilson, director at The Right Mortgage & Protection Network, said: “There’s a key reason why we have protection within the name of the network and that’s because we consider it on a par with mortgage advice provision, as we know it can make a huge difference to clients themselves, but also to those firms that make the most of the opportunity.

“This is why we are now working with Phil to use his expertise and process to help support our other AR firms to ensure they boost their protection volumes themselves, or they set up a referral strategy which will allow them to meet their responsibilities and ensure their clients get the advice and protection solutions they need.”

Davies added: “Protection is a specialist product and needs to be treated as such. Many firms are very good at this part of the market and they can secure a high protection penetration, but for others it’s not a priority and they don’t feel they have the specialist knowledge to be able to provide the best solutions for clients. In much the same way you would refer to an equity release specialist if you had a case, we are keen for firms to refer to protection specialists.

“I’ll be working with all interested AR firms to help them explore those protection options and to make sure as many clients as possible are fully covered for whatever life might throw at them in the future.”