Advisers have relied too much on mortgages and should be exploiting the opportunities in protection, said a top mortgage boss.
Peter Brodnicki, chief executive of the Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) told delegates at its annual conference they must take advantage of one of the biggest growth areas in the market.
He said: "There are angles and opportunities to talk to clients about in this business. Think of clients that were sold to but didn't take out any protection in the first place or those on joint policies that are maybe looking to split those and put into trusts - they will need someone to advise them.
"The European Union Gender Directive will see pricing become neutral for males and females at the end of next year. Again, this is another opportunity to speak to clients whose premiums are going up and down."
He told the 500+ attendees that if they each sold two protection cases a month, altogether they would make an extra £7.5m in income.
Brodnicki said: "This business has far more opportunities and is quicker and easier to do as well."
He also discussed how the gap is widening for protection on remortgages and explained how MAB advisers are working to close it.
He said: "The advisers at the top of our company are not just selling protection where there's an increase in the mortgage amount when they remortgage. Instead they're having a separate protection conversation alongside the conversation for the mortgage."
Brodnicki told delegates that typically the number of mortgages sold with protection on purchase, with the purchase then falling through, just over 1% of people keep that protection policy in place.
"This is because the conversation the adviser had with the client was around protection alongside the mortgage, rather than separately," he explained.
This story originally appeared on COVER's sister site Mortgage Solutions.
