2021 marked a milestone for Criterion, as we entered the equity release market – an entirely new sector for us, showcasing our commitment to expanding our presence in the financial service landscape and providing the industry with a wide suite of API integration Standards.
Since then we have been managing and providing governance services for the API designs for Quotes and KFI. We collaborate with the governance group to ensure the Standards develop and evolve to meet the needs of the whole market. A single API build across the industry ensures that wasteful redevelopment is cut out and firms can focus on other aspects of the business.
In 2021 we also become a member of the Equity Release Council, which represents the equity release sector and exists to set standards that drive the highest levels of consumer understanding and protection. These standards have helped the sector to grow by instilling trust in products for both financial advisers and their clients, and debunking misconceptions surrounding equity release.
We recently joined the Equity Release Council Tech Forum, which brings together council members with an interest in exploiting current and emerging technologies to the benefit of the UK equity release market. This includes organisations in the market itself like providers and distributors, as well others like Criterion, for whom technology is a core concern.
This forum will enable us to contribute our unique perspective on technology matters in the market, and in turn help support our equity release integration Standards users. We are already engaging with a forum sub-group, looking at digital connectivity, with discussions highlighting appetite for integration covering plan events, to complement quote and apply processes for which we are managing OpenAPI design standards.
