L&G launched its first equity release products in June last year after purchasing lifetime mortgage provider Newlife in April 2015.
Legal & General hesitated for too long before finally launching into equity release last year, the chief executive of L&G Home FinanceBernie Hickman has confessed.
Hickman, who addressed delegates at the Building Societies Association conference yesterday, admitted the insurance giant was put off by the equity release industry’s historically poor reputation.
He said: “These are products which as I’m sure you’re all aware of a couple of decades ago had a bit of chequered history and indeed that’s what took us so long to come into the market.
"We should have been in the market a long time ago.
“But concerns about the reputation of the product and the market did cause us to hesitate for a long time."
L&G launched its first equity release products in June last year after purchasing lifetime mortgage provider Newlife in April 2015.
In 1991 the Equity Release Council was formed.Providers registered with the ERC offer consumer protections including a no negative equity guarantee.
For Hickman that was the turning point. He added: “We got really comfortable that the market in the last 20 years.
"The Equity Release Council has put in place the safeguards in term of products and product design and equally important is the sales process with the solicitor getting involved.”
