More confidence in financial sector needed for senior consumers
Senior consumers must have confidence in the financial industry and need more reassurance from financial institutions as they faced longevity gap, according to the professional association of providers of equity release products and services.
SEQUAL said that Australia's senior consumers of equity release products needed far more reassurance from financial institutions than requiring their representatives to have SEQUAL accreditation.
According to SEQUAL's chairman, Peter Szabo, insufficient superannuation and living longer with rapidly growing health care-related costs was erasing the nest eggs for many retirees before they needed age care services.
"When a senior Australian reaches this point and faces the often deeply emotional decision to utilise the family home to access equity to enable them to live beyond their savings and superannuation, they are owed the very highest duty of care by financial service product providers and the financial service sector in general," he said.
He added that SEQUAL and the financial institutions that comprise the equity release sector reached a crossroad where the status quo was unsustainable.
"The industry must unite, come together and collectively raise awareness of the very real challenges and impact of the longevity funding gap that seniors confront."
Membership of SEQUAL required members to share their industry insight, intelligence and information to help develop products and services that would go beyond the only two currently available offerings to the senior consumers — reverse mortgages and equity release by selling an agreed share of the future sale proceeds of the family home.
The association would also work to strengthen government partnerships to develop a framework for the future to guide sector policy and would work to help present to government common issues requiring attention.
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