Working at BOWER

Bower is one of the most established and recognised financial advice companies in the UK.

The story so far:
We’ve been on quite the journey since we founded the company back in 2006.

Bower started out in the village Havering-atte-Bower, where our CEO, Geoff Charles, grew up, and now provides face to face advice all over the UK.

Our brand name Bower was born from the word for ‘shelter’ or ‘protection’.  This is exactly what Geoff wanted to provide for homeowners searching for sustainable equity release and mortgages – and his philosophy continues to drive our customer-centric and sustainable approach today.

Our market position:

Bower has grown considerably since our inception. After making a name for ourselves as a team of expert equity release advisers, we soon expanded our offering to include Bower Private Clients, a new arm of the business dedicated to providing personalised lifetime mortgages to high net worth individuals.

Fast forward to 2023, and Bower has grown into one of the country’s most trusted providers of home finance and equity release advice, with expert advisers across the whole of the UK. We’re held in high regard by the public and our industry peers; in fact, our work has been recognised by a range of schemes, not least the What Mortgage Awards and the Mortgage Strategy Awards. We are also proud to be a Platinum Trusted Service Awards winner with Feefo of which we recommend you read.

Our mission:
At Bower, we don’t just strive to be the country’s leading equity release quality advice company. We want to be known as a company you’ll be happy to do business with; an employer you’ll love working for; and a firm you’ll respect for its commitment to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably.

Our Corporate Social Responsibility policy provides more information on how we’re actively engaging with our internal community, and setting plans in motion to improve practices within our firm and the wider industry.

We’re also passionate about doing everything we can to look after our planet. Here, we are currently undertaking to reduce our carbon footprint and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral certified by 2030.

Our team and board consist of:

Geoff Charles, Bower’s founder and Chief Executive. Over the years, Geoff has steered the company to become one of the few truly national market leaders in equity release. He’s the driving force behind Bower’s core values – Trust, Honesty, and Service – and is devoted to ensuring our customers receive the best advice from staff who are genuinely happy and fulfilled in their work.

Andrea Rozario, Chief Corporate Officer. Andrea has decades of experience in the financial industry and boasts a long history in the equity release market. She was formerly Director General of the Equity Release Council, and its predecessor, Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP), the trade body for the equity release industry. Andrea brings her wealth of experience to Bower in setting ethical and consumer protection standards within our industry.

Peter Mila, Chief Operating Officer. Peter has been with Bower since the very beginning and has been instrumental in our company’s growth, development and success. He has also played a key role in the implementation of our bespoke customer relationship management systems, which continue to underpin our operations and compliance, plus our feefo customer reviews.

Our connections:
Our Partnership division maintains an ever-expanding network of introducers. Andrea Rozario is continuously working with the mainstream and industry media as both a commentator and writer, often featuring in the national press.

Bower is a member of the Equity Release Council and adheres to and promotes the standards of the Council.