Expert insight, analysis and commentary across the entire protection industry.
by ProtectionReview 05/02/14
Everyone has an agenda. Every agenda is underpinned by a narrative, a representation of beliefs and perceptions that give the agenda legitimacy. Financial capability is no exception. This article challenges the narrative that is shared by Government and the financial services sector regarding consumers’ financial capability. "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." Mr Micawber’s observation is presented by financial services folk as a self-evident truth. It isn’t. The evidence from research is that happiness has little to do with money;…
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by ProtectionReview 15/01/14
I recently attended the AIMIP (Association of International Medical Insurance Providers) Conference in London aboard HMS Belfast, which was sporting some big guns from the iPMI industry, (as well as its own ‘hardware’). It was a very good day, with gifted speakers who gave excellent and informative presentations. During the final ‘any questions’ session I asked if there was anything the domestic PMI market could learn from the international market – which prompted the immediate response: “There most certainly is - how long have you got?!!” The suggestions put forward included: • A level playing field for both direct and…
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by ProtectionReview 08/01/14
Swallows and Amazons - or is it the Amazons doing the swallowing? Not long ago I woke to find myself in Post-RDR Land where the mists had cleared to leave a landscape where the good folk of PRL were left waiting for ever on platforms for trains to Good Financial Outcomes. The problem was most people didn’t know financially where they wanted to go, all the helpful travel advice staff had disappeared off somewhere and the train destination boards would only work if you put money in a slot beforehand. So my new friend Alf Verage, while he felt he…
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by ProtectionReview 06/11/13
I’m delighted to hear news from Mr Le Beau of an imminent initiative in offering Income Protection to lower-income families, and I hope it will be a great success. If it is, it will do something to improve one of the oddest and most unsatisfactory aspects of today’s financial services market: the fact that there are currently no clear and widely-accepted ideas about how the mass market can successfully be served. This is certainly true in individual protection. These days there’s fairly general agreement that face-to-face is too expensive, but remote execution-only doesn’t work (“Remember, life assurance is sold and…
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by ProtectionReview 06/11/13
A number of multi-national organisations we have been speaking with recently have intensified focus on their customers and have instigated several customer-centric initiatives to put the customer front and centre in everything they do. It seems a pretty obvious and fundamental thing to do but sometimes we lose sight of what impact an activity or initiative in a large organisation might have on our customers. We are all aware, being customers ourselves, that (due to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and so on) our expectations have shifted in how we deal with service organisations. We want ready access through multiple channels…
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