Fran Green of more2life speaks to The Intermediary after scooping her award at the Later Life Lending Awards 2022.
Congratulations on winning BDM of the Year at the inaugural Later Life Lending Awards; how important is getting this recognition to you?
It’s both flattering and humbling. I’m fortunate to work alongside some of the loveliest advisers in the market who are always forthcoming with praise, but it is nice to have formal recognition for those that don’t know me as well.
What do you think sets your business apart from others in the field?
Our variety of solutions that we can offer a client, giving us a large customer footprint with a solution to help most and if option A) doesn’t work, we can use the power of our panel to come up with a plan B!
How important is it to recognise achievement in the sector?
Very. I know there are some corners of the world including financial services where equity release is still a dirty words.
This kind of activity sends a clear message to the market that we are now in a different class than we were in the past.
Looking ahead how do you see the next 12 months playing out for the later life market?
I think rates will improve but for loan-to-values to return, we need a return of market confidence so until we see house price growth return as a trend; it will still be a challenge to help those higher release borrowers.
What advice would you give to someone looking to join the market?
Find yourself a good contact in this industry, another broker and/or a lender representative that will mentor you and give your expertise a jump start with their experience.
How do you rate your chances of defending your win next year?
I wouldn’t like to say for sure but what I will be doing is stepping up my business development support, helping firms and advisers make the most of what may be a challenging market be that with product updates, pipeline management or helping them look for and generate more leads.
