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Lighthouse Group PLC
29 March 2017
Press Release 29 March 2017
Lighthouse Group plc
("Lighthouse", the "Group" or the "Company")
Equity Release Council Membership
Lighthouse Group plc (AIM: LGT), the national financial adviser
of choice for Middle Britain, is pleased to announce that through
Lighthouse Advisory Services Limited, its wholly-owned subsidiary,
it has been granted membership to The Equity Release Council.
Lighthouse is the first financial services network organisation to
join the Council.
Membership is recognition of the increased role equity release
plays within the retirement planning landscape and the breadth of
options in the mortgage market. Lighthouse's customers will
continue to be assured of high quality advice from advisers,
underpinned by the standards of The Equity Release Council
(Council) helping to guarantee that the highest levels of service
are provided to consumers.
The protections associated with The Council and its members
include the no negative equity guarantee, the right to tenure, the
ability to port a loan to a suitable property and a requirement
that any customer taking out an equity release product must receive
both legal and independent financial advice.
Joining comes at a time of significant momentum for the equity
release sector, as lifetime mortgages became the fastest growing
mortgage segment in 2016, with the number of customers rising by
22% and the value of lending exceeding GBP2bn for the first time in
a single year.
Donna Bathgate, Chief Operating Officer of the Equity Release
Council, comments: "I am delighted to welcome Lighthouse as our
first network member. Its decision is a clear indication of the
growing appetite for equity release as more people recognise the
value of using their housing wealth to support a comfortable
retirement. Lighthouse's reputation is highly respected within the
advisory community and I look forward to working with them to help
ensure more customers are able to access the advice they
require."
Malcolm Streatfield, Chief Executive Officer of Lighthouse Group
plc, added: "Becoming a member of The Council was a natural
progression for us with the Group having arranged GBP885 million of
mortgage funds for 5,000 customers in 2016. Equity release is a
natural extension of this activity and has become an increasingly
important area for our business in recent years. We are advising
more customers on equity release than ever before and want to
ensure we provide all our customers with first class advice,
underpinned by robust standards. We are delighted to be part of The
Council and look forward to working alongside it to help more
people realise the value of equity release for retirement where
appropriate."
-Ends-
For further information, please contact:
Lighthouse Group plc
Malcolm Streatfield - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7065
Chief Executive 5640
Peter Smith - Group Finance
Director
www.lighthousegroup.plc.uk
investorenquiries@lighthousefs.help
finnCap Limited
(Nominated Adviser and Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7220
Broker to the Company) 0500
Adrian Hargrave / Emily
Watts
Media enquiries:
IFC Advisory Limited
Graham Herring/Tim Metcalfe/Heather Tel: +44 (0) 20
Armstrong 3053 8671
heather.armstrong@investor-focus.co.uk www.investor-focus.co.uk
About Lighthouse Group plc
Lighthouse has been listed on AIM since 2000 as an integrated
financial services company for investors, coupled with significant
scale in terms of distribution through financial advisers and
wealth managers and its fully diversified business model.
As one of the UK's largest autonomous financial advice and
wealth management groups, Lighthouse provides a comprehensive range
of services to businesses and individuals and is retained by most
of the major trades unions and other affinity groups to advise
their combined memberships of over 6 million members.
The Group aims to increase its relationships with, and the
benefits it derives from, its relationships with affinity groups
and professional partners.
In addition to a wide range of financial advice, the Group has
developed innovative products to meet the specific needs of its
retail and corporate customers. These comprise:
-- Luceo Asset Management, launched in September 2016 to provide
a range of investment solutions to retail investors. The initial
three solutions comprise multi-manager, fund of fund, investment
portfolios matching to customers' agreed risk profiles, with
Octopus Investments Limited as the initial Investment Adviser and
the newly established Lighthouse Zurich Platform, in partnership
with Zurich; and
-- The Lighthouse Pensions and Life Trusts, unbundled
multi-employer Master Trust products that provide cost-effective
and one-stop shop solutions for small- and medium- sized
enterprises ("SMEs"), to meet their obligations to establish
auto-enrolment compliant pension schemes for their employees by 31
March 2018. (up to 1 million SMEs have to do so) and provide
death-in-service life assurance cover for all of their employees
aged between 16 and 65, for the same cost per benefit, at very
competitive rates, regardless of age, gender, location or
pre-existing medical conditions.
Lighthouse operates from its headquarters in London as well as
having principal operating offices in Stockport and Woodingdean,
near Brighton.
For more information please visit:
http://www.lighthousegroup.plc.uk/
About The Equity Release Council:
The Equity Release Council is the industry body for the equity
release sector, which represents over 500 members including
providers, qualified financial advisers, solicitors, surveyors and
other industry professionals.
It works to ensure a safe equity release market for consumers,
by operating rigorous Standards for the provision of advice and
products which guarantee security of tenure and financial
protections. 2016 marks the 25th anniversary since the first
industry Standards were created for equity release in 1991. Since
then, over 370,000 consumers have taken out an equity release plan
from Council members, drawing on almost GBP18bn of housing
wealth.
The Council also works with consumers, industry and policy
makers to improve awareness and understanding of equity release and
the potential for housing wealth to help solve many of the
financial challenges facing people over the age of 55 across the
UK.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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