The Intermediary – July 2025 - Flipbook - Page 27
T H E I N T E RV I E W
Pure Retirement
Our underwriting promise is to assess
each case on an individual basis, review all
the information, and look beyond that and ask
what we might be able to do to help the client.
If this particular plan isn’t suitable, is there
something else that would be, or can we build a
business case?”
proposition, Hancock points to “great
relationships with third-parties and funders, to
be able to put the business case together.”
He also says it is all about having
underwriters who are empowered to make
decisions, and “really understand the risk
appetite.” This means a team with constant
communication and open discussion to help
make tricky decisions, as well as ongoing
“calibration exercises” to ensure that everyone
is working from the same foundation.
Hancock adds: “It’s not just a carte blanche
approach, it’s very closely monitored, including
taking a close look at the data we get from
referrals and the element of risk there.
“We have constant meetings, including with
sales, to consider the trends and data and
make sure that we have a consistent message
as to what we can support and what we can’t
do at all.”
Every case is assigned an underwriter, who
looks after it from the initial assessment
through to the offer.
Hancock says: “All our underwriters are
accessible. I don’t believe in putting them
in little boxes, or having a ‘them and us’
mentality. If a broker wants to discuss a case,
understand the outstanding requirements,
they’ll happily do so.
“There might be something on the
application that’s been misunderstood or lost
in translation that can be easily sorted out by a
quick call. I despise ‘email ping-pong’.”
This means that in those cases where
lending is not possible, an adviser should get a
reasoned response that will help them manage
their client’s relationships, and potentially
either fix the problem there and then, build a
stronger application in the future, or place the
case elsewhere.
“There’s an emphasis on truly taking
ownership of an account and looking after it to
the best of your ability,” he adds.
From his own experience, Hancock says he
knows that brokers want “sound knowledge,
experience and support” when dealing
with lenders. He says: “This is ever more
important in the later life sector, considering
not only the nature of the industry but the
widening demographics.”
Cautious advancement
With such a focus on fluid and adaptable
underwriting, Hancock says there is no falling
back on a “computer says no” conclusion. This
is indicative of a market that will never be
served by an algorithm model of lending.
Hancock says: “Artificial intelligence [AI]
and algorithms could at some point play a
part in enhancing the service we provide, but
it won’t ever replace people and the need for
experience and expertise.
“Underwriting can never be fully automated
– it needs a person there to have a logical
approach, looking at the grey and coming up
with a conclusion based on all the facts. An
algorithm can only go so far.
“There might be space for that with ‘vanilla’
cases, but is there such a thing in this market?”
Nevertheless, there are ways in which
advancements have come in to help brokers
and underwriters in the later life market.
Hancock points to Pure Retirement’s ‘preapplication’ service, which helps assess a
case’s suitability.
He says: “We find that when clients use
that, it helps the journey for their customer,
because the background checks that are done
as part of the process mean that it’s practically
underwritten by the time it arrives with us. It
means we’re as sure as we can be without the
valuation going out.
“Automation and AI could come in there,
automating some of those checks where it’s
black and white – flood zones, for example.
Even then, it would still need an underwriter.”
Having a growing amount of increasingly
solid data is, Hancock says, helping to open
up criteria in this market, allowing cases that
would have previously been lumped together
to be assessed on an ever more granular basis.
Nevertheless, he warns, there will always
be a role for underwriting expertise, where
properties have too many concerns to be dealt
with via an automated system.
Indeed, as “saleability is subjective,” having
an expert eye, local knowledge and a nuanced
understanding of the market is always going to
be key in later life lending.
Having this experience in-house, alongside
a drive to build a detailed data picture of the →
July 2025 | The Intermediary
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