Eighty-three percent of UK advisers want to grow their GI business
This article was created in partnership with Paymentshield.
General insurance (GI) sales to remortgage clients represent one of the most significant untapped revenue streams in the mortgage advice sector, yet this opportunity continues to be overlooked by many advisers.
Our 2025 Adviser Survey speaks to this, showing a disconnect between advisers’ intent and their execution: while 83% of advisers want to grow their GI business, over half (53%) say they don’t discuss GI with their remortgage clients often.
It means that advisers are missing out on revenue and valuable chances to further solidify relationships with their clients. A common reason cited for not pursuing the GI opportunity with clients is that advisers don’t have the time or resource. But with the advent of referral services across the market, winds are changing.
A referral revolution?
The survey data tells a compelling story about the evolving landscape of adviser preferences. Awareness of Paymentshield’s referral service amongst the advisers surveyed has jumped from 65% to 76% year-on-year. However, more telling is that almost a third of advisers (30%) say their “ideal situation” for making sure clients have adequate insurance in place is to refer them for insurance advice over doing it themselves.
The group of advisers who would ideally be referring their GI business can be split into two camps. There are 20% of advisers who favour referring clients for an advised phone conversation with a third party, with a further 10% who prefer an online journey where clients can arrange policies independently. However, it’s clear that while a growing number of advisers recognise referral as a route to doing GI business they might not yet be fully embracing it.
Remortgaging, in particular, presents an area ripe for referral activity among advisers. Currently, Paymentshield data shows that remortgage clients represent a much smaller proportion of referred business compared to home movers and first-time buyers. But we also know that they are a frequently overlooked group for GI conversations in general.
Remortgage clients represent a clear opportunity for referral, particularly for advisers who either aren't discussing GI at all, or who might be finding it difficult to convert these conversations into sales.
To understand how this shift is playing out in practice, we spoke to advisers who have already embraced referral services to get an idea of what inspired them to take the leap, and how they’ve found integrating referral so far.
Charline Schott, a Mortgage Administrator at Warren & Co, a brokerage in Gloucester, said that “GI often fell down her to-do list due to the complex nature of quote generation.” Recognising the potential of GI as a supplementary income stream, Charline trialled the referral service and has found that she’s “seeing a much higher conversion rate than when I handled this myself.”
An innovative team of experts to hand
Crucially, Charline feels comfortable using the service as her “clients know they’re speaking to someone who’s an insurance expert. That builds trust and makes a huge difference.”
We understand that advisers can be reluctant to hand over their well-earned client relationships to a third party, which is why we have robust processes in place to secure client consent to be contacted, and at a time of their convenience.
Andrew Dunn, a broker at Q Financial Services in Telford, says that “what’s most valuable for me, is having the option to refer our clients onto a team of experts, which gives everyone involved some peace of mind and assurance.”
Providing peace of mind is why our Adviser Hub allows advisers to track each referral they make, so they’re never out of the loop with how their customers are faring. And the results from referring remortgage clients to Paymentshield speak for themselves. In 2025 alone, referrals of remortgage clients are currently converting at 26%, compared to 15% when advisers don’t refer and initiate the GI conversation themselves.
It’s important that advisers strongly consider referral services as one of the key strings to their bow, especially with the revenue opportunities that remortgaging looks set to provide over the next 15 months.
A look ahead: A golden opportunity
By the end of 2025, 1.8 million borrowers will come to the end of their fixed-rate mortgages, per estimates from UK Finance. And 2026 promises to be similarly plentiful. For those advisers who remain keen to deliver an advised conversation themselves, our Adviser Hub, GI academy and the adviser toolkit on the Paymentshield website are continually updated and offer valuable support to advisers.
For advisers struggling to find the time to effectively meet this remortgaging wave, exploring how referral services can support your operations could really help to unlock that extra revenue and client appreciation.
Remortgaging presents a golden opportunity for the sector over the next year. With uncertainty around inflation and future rate changes continuing to loom over us, clients will always gain the most value from professional, expert advice that helps them navigate complex decisions.
