MMR could impact protection market - Swiss Re

The Mortgage Market Review (MMR) could significantly affect the protection market, Swiss Re has said.

The reinsurer believes it could result in new products and a need to source clients through different means.

Speaking at the Protect trade body meeting, Ron Wheatcroft, vice president of client markets for Europe at Swiss Re, revealed his concerns about the MMR's impact.

"The MMR and mortgage funding review are really important for protection," he said.

"If the review's outcome is quite intrusive in terms of how mortgage lending is transacted, bearing in mind we used get 50% of our business from mortgages, what could be the effects on the protection market?

"Does it create a market where more people rent and fewer people buy and would that create a demand for income protection products to cover rental payments as opposed to life cover to pay off the mortgage debt?" he added.

Wheatcroft was supported by Paul Broadhead, head of policy at the Building Societies Association, who commented that the mortgage market and home ownership had changed dramatically.

"That's a really important point because the MMR does have the potential to go even further than it is at the moment," he said.

"And if we look at the trend in home ownership, we are seeing for the first time since the First World War that ownership is falling while the private rental sector has doubled in the last ten years."