A sophisticated equity release system for Grainger plc
News20.06.07
We have recently completed a project for Grainger plc subsidiary company, Bridgewater Equity Release Limited, to enhance their position as the UK's leading provider of home reversion plans.
TH_NK was appointed to create a user-friendly online system to enable financial advisers to produce KFIs (Key Facts Illustrations) for customers who wish to take out a Home Reversion Plan. The system also provides a facility to produce an application form online and submit it to Bridgewater.
The system; which has been branded 'EQUiP' (Equity in Property), is easy to navigate and uses an online calculator so that the FA can speed up the customer application process, which will enable an instant calculation of the amount of equity that can be released.
The move by Bridgewater to adopt this new system comes at an important time for FSA regulated companies with the introduction of the new home reversion regulation. Enforced on April 6th 2007, this new legislation requires providers, arrangers and advisers of home reversion products to abide by the FSAs principles and rules and to 'treat customers fairly'.
The EQUiP system will enhance the administration of our home reversion plans by providing a single data entry point. The system will enable Bridgewater's administrators to generate offer KFIs for clients, enable advisers to manage client records and significantly reduce any duplication of work. We're extremely pleased by the results of TH_NK's work in meeting these objectives.
By exploring and incorporating the latest technological systems behind the scenes, we've been able to create a streamlined operation which replaces their current internal procedures as well as improving their service to their FAs. We believe this system is the best out there in the marketplace ahead of Bridgewater's competitors and the feedback we've received from advisers through follow-up research has been excellent.
