Zurich Life Protection Platform (Protection Review rating: Gold, Adviser score 7.1)
This review is actually of changes made by Zurich that somehow missed our usual update. The Platform was launched in 2018 and included changes across Zurich’s range of protection products:
Personal Protection (Life, Life & CI)
Income Protection
Whole of Life
Business Protection (Life, Life & CI)
Business Whole of Life
Relevant Life.
In addition, Zurich also offers Multi-Fracture Cover, which can be added to Personal Protection and Income Protection policies.
Focusing on Personal Protection, and the top of the range Life Cover and Critical Illness Select plan, this offers cover for:
51 serious conditions
48 additional payment conditions
10 advanced payments
10 benefit uplift payments, paying up to £100K
5 complications of pregnancy conditions, paying up to £5K, if below age 45
Option to add enhanced children's benefit.
In addition, multi-fracture cover can be added, which pays out if the customer breaks a bone, dislocates a joint, ruptures their Achilles tendon or tears a cruciate ligament in their knee. The benefit pays up to £6,000 depending on the injury and the maximum overall that can be claimed each year is £6,000.
The life cover element includes as standard free life cover during underwriting, free life cover until mortgage completion and separation benefit (if a couple separates, each can start an individual policy for the same cover with no fresh medical underwriting). Additional benefits at extra cost include waiver of premium; conversion option; renewal option and multi-fracture cover. Children are covered up to their 22nd birthday.
Minimum age (for life cover with CI) is 16 at outset, maximum is 69 and maximum age at end of term is 74. Minimum term is one year (maximum is 40) and customers must be UK resident. Life cover only is available to older ages, up to 83 at outset.
Comment: Zurich has clearly put a lot of effort into its Protection Platform, and the result is a good solid proposition.
We wonder if, going forward, conversion options will become more valued too. They rather fell out of fashion some years ago, but have always enabled customers to buy cheap today, with a view to widening cover later. That said, there is a cost to having such options and, if never exercised, the benefit is only peace of mind.
Overall Zurich’s protection platform offers a good suite of product solutions and is one that can be built on further too, as customer and adviser tastes and demands change.
Plus points: A protection platform that brings together Zurich’s protection plans under a single proposition; Comprehensive range of product solutions; Includes options such as conversion options that enables cover to be widened later.
Not so plus points: Conversion and renewal options add flexibility but also add cost for options that may never be exercised; Spread out across all the products the platform is not simple.
Website: http://www.zurichintermediaery.co.uk.
Rating (max 10): Overall: 8. Gold
Tags: CI; Zurich
I Mark: No
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