HLPartnership (HLP) and Mortgage Support Network (MSN) will be hosting two seminars focusing on later life lending following their successful January roadshows on technology and marketing for advisers.

The events are open to the networks’ own members and to all advisers who have an interest in serving the borrowing needs of the older generation.

Gavin Earnshaw, HLP and MSN’s compliance director, will host the seminars, which will explore the ways in which advisers can become more involved in the sector.

He commented: “We believe there is a considerable opportunity for members to actively participate in the later life Lending sector.”

“Those members with mortgage permissions really need to be aware of the growing retirement interest-only (RIO) product range and how these complement their existing proposition to customers.”

For those who would like to be more involved in equity release, the two firms will offer training and support for members of HLP/MSN to become fully qualified, allowing them to provide a more ‘holistic approach to meeting the older borrowers’ needs’.

Where a member does not want to become qualified, HLP and MSN encourage a referral to a suitably qualified adviser within the network.

Earnshaw continued: “Just under £4 billion of equity was released by homeowners over the age of 55 in 2018, with over a quarter of that figure being drawn down in the last quarter of the year. At a time when traditional mortgage sources are growing slowly, here is a sector with high demand and an essential need for advice.”

“With the support we can offer at HLP/MSN, advisers will come away from these seminars with a clear pathway to open up a new and profitable business channel,” he concluded.

The seminars will run from 10am to 3pm, with one being held today at Brand Exchange Members Club, Birchin Lane, London, EC3V 9BW.

The second event will take place tomorrow at the National Conference Centre, Coventry Road, Hampton in Arden, B92 0EJ.