HILD launches equity release product on the Romanian market
ROMANIA. The US financial company HILD Management launches its equity
release product (life annuities versus real estate properties of
current pensioners) on the Romanian market, founder and member of the
board John WIRTH told www.privatepensions.ro in an exclusive interview.
HILD, who has US investment bank Merrill Lynch among its shareholders,
was founded in 2003 and is already present in Hungary and Bulgaria. Its
official launch in Romania is expected tomorrow, the announcement is to
be made by the US ambassador in Romania.
The equity release product targets "asset rich but cash poor"
pensioners, who want to "live life to the fullest" - a category WIRTH
calls "actualizers". The product is actually simple: HILD takes over
the property rights of the pensioners' homes and pays an upfront lump
sum, followed by several life annuities (which go on indefinately,
until the pensioner-customer passes away). This financial scheme is quite common in Western Europe, along with other similar products, like reverse mortgage. Because of its nature, equity release can be considered in some cases "another philosophy of private pensions".
