Standard Life Announces Strategic Partnership with Key Group to enter the Lifetime Mortgage Market

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Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, today announces it has entered into a strategic agreement with Key Group, who will launch a range of Lifetime Mortgage products branded Standard Life Home Finance.

This agreement aligns to the launch of new innovative Defaqto 5 Star rated products by Key Group and will include both lump sum and drawdown. Branded Standard Life Home Finance, the products will be provided by Key Group and will use their platforms, ensuring the service and administration match the quality of the offering. This new range will enable advisers to help over-55 homeowners to unlock the assets they have built up in their property, without the need to move home. The new Standard Life Home Finance branded products aim to provide customers with more choice and flexibility to meet their changing financial needs in later life.

The range will gradually roll out to advisers from October this year when full product details will become available, with the aim of them being readily available to all advisers by the end of this year.

Phoenix Group, the largest long-term savings and retirement company in the UK, has been an active funder in the equity release market for the last five years. It has grown to be among the largest funders in the market and is a member of the Equity Release Council.

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Commenting, Tom Ground, Managing Director Retirement Solutions, Standard Life said:
“We’re extremely pleased to be partnering with the specialists at Key Group who will launch a new range of Standard Life Home Finance branded equity release products to advisers. The money people have invested in their property should not be overlooked when it comes to financial planning, and alongside pensions savings, this new Lifetime Mortgage range will be a key part of people’s financial toolkit later in life.
 
“A growing number of people are retiring with mortgage debt and find themselves using their pension savings to pay off their mortgages. Lifetime mortgages provide them with more options and may help avoid worries about drawing out their pension savings too quickly. Standard Life has a rich heritage of helping people plan for their future, it is something we care deeply about, and it is important that people have flexibility and choice when it comes to their finances. We are delighted to be both branding and funding these Defaqto 5 Star rated products.”  

“We expect the equity release market to grow as more people understand how, with the help of advisers; they can unlock the value tied up in their homes in a way that works for them.”

In 2020, the equity release market totalled £3.89bn and some £1.17bn of property wealth was unlocked by over-55 homeowners in the second quarter of this year alone, according to the Equity Release Council. They also report that one in five (20%) people in their sixties are already using pension savings to pay off their mortgages, despite concerns over exhausting their pots too rapidly. 

Simon Thompson, Group Chief Executive Officer at Key Group added:
“We are delighted to be using our more than 21-years of experience in this market to expand our partnership with Phoenix Group to offer the Standard Life Home Finance range of new products through our more2life platforms. At Key Group, we are committed to growing the market and helping the increasing numbers of people who are turning to housing equity to support their retirement needs as well as their desire to help their families.

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Notes to Editors

www.standardlifehomefinance.co.uk

About Standard Life 

• Standard Life is a brand that has been trusted to look after peoples’ life savings for nearly 200 years 
• Today it proudly serves millions of customers who come to Standard Life directly, through advisers and through their employers’ pension scheme.
• Standard Life is part of the Phoenix Group, the largest long-term savings and retirement business in the UK. We’re proud to be building on nearly 200 years of Standard Life heritage together
• Our products include a variety of Pensions, Bonds and Retirement options to suit people’s needs, helping our customers to invest and save for their future. We’re proud to offer a leading range of sustainable and responsible investment options.
• We support our customers on their journey to and through retirement with comprehensive, easy-to-understand guidance so they can invest in the right way for their needs, and plan a future they feel confident about.
• The value of investments can go down as well as up, and may be worth less than originally invested. 

About Key Group:

• Pioneers in the equity release market, Key Group is on a mission to be the UK’s leading retirement finance expert, operating in the later life lending market and focused on helping people finance a better retirement. Celebrating its 22th anniversary in 2021, the Group has helped customers release more than £5 billion worth of equity from their properties.  
• Evolving to meet the financial needs of the increasing over-50s market, brands within the Group umbrella include two of the UK’s leading equity release advisers (Key and The Equity Release Experts), one of the largest equity release lenders (more2life), and leading later life service provider (Air Group). 
• At the heart of Key Group is the commitment to use technology to improve/support advice quality, collaborate to build smart later life lending products, make expert financial advice accessible to all people on the retirement journey, encourage product/service innovation and be a leading voice for over-50s on retirement finance matters.
• The Group is proud to be one of the largest private employers in Preston with over 600 colleagues and its brands have garnered more than 100 industry and consumer awards since launch.
• The Key Group uses Standard Life Home Finance under license from Phoenix Group