Expert insight, analysis and commentary across the entire protection industry.
by ProtectionReview 23/03/12
The insurance industry portrays many of its protection products as enhancing State benefit provision. This should indeed be the case for all but the lowest paid as the State system increasingly struggles to afford more than a basic level of support for everyone. Yet the truth is that the number of people turning to the industry to protect them from the impact of sickness and unemployment remains disappointingly low and whilst the numbers covered by group schemes bring the totals to more respectable levels, they remain far below market potential. The last few years have offered insurers numerous opportunities…
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by ProtectionReview 13/03/12
At a recent conference a guy from the FSA was advocating commitment to Simplified Products. Also recently, we’ve seen Skandia announce they are looking at alternative distribution options (having been an IFA-only distribution office). As a reminder, “The Government believes that simple products should be developed so that they deliver against three clear objectives. • To ensure that people understand the products they need; • To help people make better choices; and • To encourage competition in the market.” So, at least two things are going on: · The idea of Simplified Products is that consumers can…
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by ProtectionReview 06/03/12
GET THE STORY RIGHT – THE CUSTOMER ISN’T STUPID When we put too many electronic barriers between the organisation and the customer, and the financial services sector is among the best at that, we need to be sure that those barriers are staffed by those who care, that they are empowered and are able to talk to people in the other barriers: sorry, my language is wrong, I should have said ‘points of contact’ or ‘stations of involvement’, it’s just that everyone I talk to feels that they are barriers. I write about this now because it is fresh in…
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by ProtectionReview 28/02/12
I would like to use this blog to ask a challenging question of the group protection industry. Why does the group risk market still inhabit the technological dark ages when it comes to placing and renewing cover and obtaining quotes? Space 01 has been researching the market with brokers. From what we have seen, generally brokers obtain the required information from the employer, clean it, and then usually email the information on an excel spread sheet to the relevant providers. They can then wait a very long time for a quote and longer still to put a scheme on risk.…
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by ProtectionReview 07/02/12
Whenever I’m out and about amongst industry folk and find myself being enticed with a beer or two to share views from the coal-face, I am often amazed at how little the people who I frequently and fondly refer to as the “important decision-makers in the industry” understand what life is like for us over-worked and underpaid IFAs. Ahem. OK, whatever we claim to be and whatever you think of us, we can all agree that most IFAs are at least opinionated. Despite this truth, it is surprising that there really do seem to be barriers to information flow between…
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