Acknowledging this progress, Boyd added: “Equity release has proven its flexibility in recent years and work must focus on bringing the benefits to a wider audience.
"We have been heartened by levels of engagement and participation among our growing membership in regulatory, policy and compliance work to embed and expand best practice, so customers’ trust in equity release continues to be rewarded.”
Looking to the year ahead, Boyd sees the consumer duty as being the most significant change for retail financial services since the great financial crisis.
In his view, the legislation is “in keeping with the Council’s desire to see consumer-centric financial products backed by a commitment to going above and beyond a box-ticking, ‘minimum standard’ approach.”
“Enacting the consumer duty will require a process of cultural change across all parts of financial services, and we are committed to supporting members through this. Implementing the consumer duty will require significant focus in the first half of 2023,” Boyd said.
He added: “Deloitte is supporting the Council to produce a guidance document for distributors and lenders relating to the key considerations and inputs when developing a fair value framework and completing a fair value assessment, which we hope will be of help to our members.
"We will also be hosting a webinar with the FCA on the consumer duty for members in January."
jane.matthews@ft.com
