Legal and General

22 March 2010

Certainty and stability have been in short supply for those working in financial services in the past couple of years.

It is at times like this that firms seek quality partnerships and relationships with parties that can provide the support and business opportunities to see them through the tough times and deliver a platform to push on to wider income-generating opportunities.

Appointed representatives and directly authorised businesses are often faced with a dilemma over the choice of which network or distributor to use.

You need a network partner you can trust - one that operates with solid financials and has your needs and concerns at its core to ensure growth and success.

The Legal & General Network certainly hits those targets and more. You should be looking not just for a safe haven but a network that will help you meet the numerous business and regulatory challenges coming over the horizon.

Opting for the Legal & General Network means choosing a business that is committed to this market, is well supported by the overall Legal & General Group and is well funded and capitalised. This should ease any concerns about our future direction.

Also, the fact that we’ve been in business for 173 years should give firms a high degree of certainty that we are in business for the long term.

At the heart of our network is the support we can offer in meeting firms’ requirements, be they in compliance, technology, marketing or products.

It doesn’t matter if you are a sole trader or a firm with hundreds of advisers you will still be welcome in our network. We will work with you to help you maximise business opportunities.

Of vital importance to all firms are their compliance responsibilities, not just for today but also in the future. Numerous regulatory challenges are on the way including the Financial Services Authority’s Mortgage Market Review and its Retail Distribution Review.

As an AR, having us as your business principal ensures peace of mind about your regulatory future.

And as an AR or DA broker with Legal & General Network you’ll benefit from our close relationship with the FSA.

For example, we regularly talk to the regulator about the MMR and what is likely to come out of it.

This allows us to plan ahead to ensure we invest in the right areas and deliver accuracy in terms of compliance. This helps to ensure our systems, sales processes and adviser support mechanisms are all fit for purpose.

An AR firm signing up to our network can immediately benefit from our fully compliant and integrated point-of-sale and compliance tool Launchpad.

If you’re a smaller firm you can also benefit from our supervision model which offers direct supervision by a Legal & General-employed supervisor.

We also offer wider support and guidance for all firms including case sampling, complaints handling, financial promotions approvals and audits, as well as help in dealing with the FSA.

AR membership includes the payment of FSA fees, personal indemnity insurance and membership of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries.

Technology also plays a pivotal role in supporting member firms and maintaining our place at the cutting edge.

Not only does Launchpad provide ARs with everything they need to ensure compliant mortgage, protection and general insurance sales it is fully integrated with TrigoldCrystal.

We provide both AR and DA firms with GI and protection quote and apply systems designed with you in mind. These save time and help you maximise every sales opportunity.

Online working is always at the forefront of our mind. Firms can get more cases written faster in an online environment, cutting transaction times and getting speedier decisions.

For ARs, these systems are integrated with our compliance and back-office systems to provide performance management measures.

To help you maximise your potential we provide a business retention tool, an early warning system, and for ARs a customer relationship management system - all at the click of a mouse.

We’re also creating bespoke extranets for AR and DA firms under the Legal & General Network which we’ll be launching imminently.

Products are always an important consideration and in choosing the Legal & General Network firms can rest assured they will have access to exclusive mortgage products across all sectors via our award-winning Mortgage Club.

The Mortgage Club accounts for a 13% market share of all intermediated lending but we offer much more than mortgages. Our relationships ensure we can also negotiate special deals at the best rates and terms in areas including conveyancing, high net worth lending and lead generation.

Those writing protection and GI business will find competitive commission levels on our products, and as we’re the UK’s leading protection provider you can be assured of the quality of our product range which includes term assurance, critical illness cover, income protection and whole of life cover.

We regularly win awards and plaudits for our products, propositions, technology and service, and have one of the largest underwriting teams in the UK.

Of course, AR membership of our network and access to this range of support, products and services is not free. But we are aware that firms need to keep their costs to a minimum while at the same time receiving all the benefits, help and back-up that a quality network should provide.

Our variable cost structure - whereby we simply keep back a percentage of the proc fee - works well.

This structure has not changed since Mortgage Day back in 2004 and while it has been a challenge to keep it in place, we are committed to doing so.

Our two recent wins at the Mortgage Strategy Awards show why the Legal & General Network could be the right choice for many firms.

First, we were hailed best mortgage distributor. We offer access to quality mortgage products including exclusives and a range of products intermediaries would otherwise not be able to get.

We offer competitive proc fees, coupled with delivering an operation and compliance process to ARs which works and delivers effectively.

We also continually develop our relationships with lenders and brokers to ensure everyone has what they need.

Our second award in the best strategic partner category was particularly welcome as it highlighted our proposition beyond the core offering.

We work hard to help our member firms develop and grow but we go beyond this to create a better market environment for them to work in.

During this difficult time we have been out in the marketplace talking to mortgage stakeholders about how we can bring in more competition and choice, and building relationships with a wide range of lenders and potential lenders.

In this sense we’re not merely a network, we’re also here to help stimulate the market.

To choose Legal & General Network is to choose security, quality and support. Firms need all three of these things, whether AR or DA, and they will certainly get them and much more by joining our network.

For further information and to review the range of products, services and opportunities that Legal & General Network can provide, visit www.legalandgeneral. com/businessopportunities

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