All of the life insurance companies were active during the first six months of 2008, in their ongoing efforts to offer the best solutions for advisers and their clients. Many companies released product updates, particularly around the hectic period between late March and the end of May.
A brief summary of update activity for the first half of 2008 is set out below:
AIG Life - Priority Protection (Series 6 release) 1 Feb 2008
A soft roll out to advisers with the main emphasis on lump sum upgrades, particularly trauma insurance:
- Enhanced Benefit Indexation
- Introduction of formal rules to govern underwriting of expatriate cover
- Trauma definition enhancements
- Addition of a conversion option for child trauma cover to stand-alone cover in own name at age 21
- Terminal Illness benefit upgrade
- Guaranteed Business Insurability enhancement
- No rates changes
- Special offer underwriting concessions
AXA Update 15 February 2008
While AXA is set to release an update in July 2008, it also announced initiatives that came into effect from 15 February 2008:
- Release of a new version of the AXA Premium Quotation Tool, including an adviser commission calculator and automatic software update facility
- Extension to the AXA 15 BELOW campaign for higher sums insured
- Enhanced medical underwriting requirements
Asgard Personal Protection Package Update 18 February 2008
This was a major update for Asgard’s Personal Protection Package offering, introducing new features and enhancements to existing features that brought the product range more into line with its retail competitors:
- Introduction of GFI cover
- Enhanced Terminal Illness benefits
- Introduction of stand alone TPD cover option
- Introduction of partial trauma benefits
- Introduction of advancement benefits on certain degenerative diseases
- Changes to maximum benefit limits, including $2.5 million trauma cover max
- Release of an IP Indemnity option
- More competitive premium rates negotiated with Asgard underwriter, TOWER Australia
- Enhanced underwriting limits
CommInsure Personal Insurance Portfolio (PIP) Update 3 March 2008
This update was delivered around a ‘made to measure’ theme, which focused on ‘tailoring’ and ‘adjusting’ insurance solutions, based on feedback from advisers. There were key changes across the board, but with slightly more attention given to income protection product enhancements:
- Launch of a new income protection product option, Essential Cover, that covers accident only insurable events
- Introduction of Waiting Period Waiver (‘first to market’ feature) if insured suffers one of 20 specific medical conditions
- Reclassification of certain specialist medical occupations
- Removal of ‘Capability’ clause wording
- Changes that allow continuance of child cover where the linked adult policy ceases
- Introduction of TPD rider option under stand alone trauma
- Greater flexibility in nominated beneficiary payment options
- Launch of ‘new look’ adviser website, including new online client portfolio management service
Zurich Update 1 April 2008
Highlights of the 1 April upgrade to the Zurich Wealth Protection range included:
- Launch of Select Term - a limited duration term contract, with level premiums for terms of 5, 10 or 15 years - with rates guaranteed for the first five years
- Introduction of Loyalty Discounts - rewarding insured lives who take out more than one policy, or related lives in a family or business situation - discounts of up to 15% are available
- Expansion of partial trauma benefits - with a new option to increase partial trauma benefits to up to 25% of the trauma sum insured
- New option for Income Replacement - Basic Cover option - to help reduce premiums for cost conscious clients
- Enhancement of premium waiver option under income protection
- Introduction of new partial trauma top up option
- Enhanced child cover option, including addition of a $5,000 funeral benefit
- Rates changes, both increases and decreases, generally between 2% and 4%
Macquarie FutureWise Update 18 April 2008
Following the successful launch of Macquarie’s online, automatic underwriting, FutureWise range in the first half of 2007, the first product changes were released in April 2008, focusing on more flexibility within trauma and income protection insurance solutions. This has been the most substantial and detailed product update so far this year:
- Introduction of a Trauma Plus option, covering additional conditions and paying higher benefits for some events
- Introduction of a basic IP contract
- Introduction of Business Expenses cover
- Introduction of Blood Borne Disease cover
- Flexible linking in allowing Life and/or TPD cover to be taken within super and Trauma and/or TPD cover to be taken outside of super while still accessing premium discounts for linked cover
- New options available for Double TPD and Trauma
- Introduction of Business Increase option
- Introduction of Superannuation cover option
- Enhancements to key features such as TPD definition, numerous trauma event definitions, trauma reinstatement clause, Disability Income wording
- More generous medical underwriting requirements
Asteron Lifeguard Update 28 April 2008
Series 2 of Asteron’s Lifeguard range was launched on 28 April 2008 (PDS issue date: 15 April 2008), which concentrated mainly on income protection enhancements:
- Reconstructed income protection range, with a three-tiered structure, catering to a broad spectrum of occupations: Income Advantage (for white collar professionals seeking the best cover available), Income Protector (tradespeople to white collar) and Income Secure (for the more basic IP requirements).
- New Recovery Booster option designed to allow 100% income cover for up to two years if claim is as a result of a listed trauma event
- Extended waiver of premium option
- Increase in max TPD cover
- New medical free trigger events for lump sum cover
- Enhanced guaranteed Renewability wording re treatment of unemployment
- Own occupation TPD enhancement re occupation choice at time of application
- No underlying rates changes, but enhancements to large sum and multiple application discounts
- Enhanced client loyalty rewards set
- Special underwriting offer for key occupations (newly qualified general medical practitioners and barristers)
- Enhanced medical free underwriting limits
- Updated Equate quotation tool, version 6.0
TOWER Protection Policy Update 30 April 2008
The TOWER Protection Policy range was updated at the end of April with the main focus on lump sum product enhancements:
- Enhanced Terminal Illness wording
- Enhanced TPD definition
- Easing of policy wording for some trauma events
- Improved policy wording for pre-disability earnings under income protection cover
- Improved offsets wording
- Enhanced Day One Accident option
- Substantial pricing and discount changes, taking into account the positioning of TPP with TOWER’s Partner Insurance Portfolio range and the company’s online Accelerate range
- More attractive large sum discounts from $1 million
- Substantial enhancements to TPP underwriting requirements across the three main product categories of death/TPD, trauma and income protection
ING OneCare Update 1 May 2008
Effective from 5 May 2008, the OneCare update for ING focused on lump sum, ‘living insurance’ solutions:
- Introduction of Extra Care Benefits, which offer clients the opportunity to top up existing cover with three additional benefit options, being Terminal Illness, Accidental Death and Needle Stick Benefits
- Introduction of Baby Care option (can be taken by females aged between 16 and 40), including cover on still birth after 20 weeks of pregnancy
- Introduction of Premier Maximiser option, including a Booster Benefit that will double certain partial trauma benefits and a Benefit Accelerator that will pay a full benefit on a number of partial trauma benefit events
- New full and partial trauma events added
- TPD cover enhancements
- Launch of Income Secure Special Risk, which has been specifically designed for previously uninsurable occupations for income protection cover such as miners, bricklayers, unskilled labourers etc.
- New Unemployment Benefit (for Income Secure policies), which will pay client’s minimum repayments on their ANZ home loans, personal loans and line of credit in event of involuntary redundancy
- Introduction of ability for client to pay OneCare Superannuation premiums via their ING OneAnswer personal superannuation accounts
Aviva Update 16 May 2008
Aviva released a ‘medium’ level update for its Protectionfirst range in May, concentrating on enhancing and simplifying the underwriting process, in addition to some key features enhancements:
- Removal of the need for advisers to provide an accountant’s signature on an application, regardless of the proposed sum insured - relies on expertise of the adviser and speeds up the underwriting process
- Other key medical free limit enhancements
- Allowing B class occupation classes to access Own Occupation definition under TPD cover
- More favourable terms for interim accident cover, designed to lock in client at time of application - ‘cover note’ approach
- Introduction of partial disability benefits under TPD
- Introduction of a financial planning benefit
- Extension of Severe Illness benefit and other key trauma policy wordings
- Amended Offsets definition under income protection
- No changes to underlying rates, loading or discount factors
MLC Pricing Update 26 May 2008
- In keeping with MLC’s usual product cycle, the company’s main features review will take place in the second half of 2008. However, MLC has introduced a series of pricing changes that took effect from 26 May 2008. The two main pricing initiatives were:
- Reductions on Life Cover level premiums
- Increasing the Large Case Discount rates across customers holding Critical Illness insurance
The above summaries highlight the range of product initiatives that have been introduced in the first half of 2008, many of them based on feedback from the market, and all designed to offer flexibility and greater value to the client.
In terms of electronic underwriting, no new solutions have been launched. TOWER’s online insurance solution, Accelerate, was officially launched in April 2008, but the proposition itself was launched in pilot mode throughout the second half of 2007. AMP also updated its Easywrite underwriting solution earlier this year, but again, this was first launched in 2007.
We look forward with interest to the product and services initiatives in the second half of 2008, commencing with AXA’s product update, to be released later in July.
