TAL has taken out the top honours in the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and Plan For Life (PFL) Life Company of the Year Awards, announced at a gala event in Sydney last night.
In addition to winning the overall Platinum award, recognising the company’s achievements in 2014, TAL also won the Trauma product award and was a finalist in the Service Quality and Term/TPD award categories.
The 2014 Platinum Award runners up were CommInsure and BT Financial Group.
AFA CEO, Brad Fox, said: “The Platinum award recognises the insurer that has shown exceptional performance across all judging criteria including an important element that reflects upon the sustainability of their product and services. TAL has certainly led the market in a number of areas over recent years including initiatives that bring efficiency gains to advisers and their businesses as well as to the client.”
Rael Solomon, Manager Marketing and Product Development at PFL, said the awards were based on a comparison of five key areas, including financial strength of the company, product feature strength, company service quality, premium rates and company market strength.
“These, in conjunction with consistency of premium rates and product features, product improvements and unique product features, lapse data, contribution to the growth and promotion of the Australian life insurance industry, internal service benchmarks and sustainability were considered in the process,” Mr Solomon said.
A total of 13 awards were presented at the black tie event, including the client service team awards, jointly presented by the AFA, riskinfo and the Beddoes Institute. For more information on the client service team awards, click here.
Product Awards
Platinum Award – 2014 Life Company of the Year
- Winner: TAL
- Finalists: BT Financial Group, CommInsure
Service Quality Award
- Winner: Zurich
- Finalists: Comminsure, TAL
Term/TPD Award
- Winner: AMP Elevate – Life Insurance Plan
- Finalists: TAL – Life Insurance Plan, OnePath – Life Cover Plan
Trauma Award
- Winner: TAL – Critical Illness Premier Plan
- Finalists: OnePath – Trauma Premier Plan, AMP Financial Services – Trauma Optimum Plan
Income Protection Award
- Winner: OnePath – Income Secure Professional Plan
- Finalists: MLC – Income Protection Platinum Plan, BT – Income Protection Plus Plan, CommInsure – Income Care Plus Plan
Risk Product Innovation
- Winner: BT Financial Group – Key Person Income Insurance
- Finalists: AIA Australia – Transition to Hybrid Program, Asteron – Asteron Life Plus online health check, Macquarie – Sponsorship of Stroke Solidarity String
Investment Bond of the Year
- Winner: CommInsure
- Finalists: Austock, IOOF
Overall Annuity Provider of the Year
- Winner: Challenger
- Finalists: CommInsure, BT Financial Group
Long Term Income Stream Award
- Winner: Challenger
- Finalist: CommInsure
Annuity & Income Stream Innovation Award
- Winner: Challenger – Annuities on Platforms Integration
Client Service Team Awards
Underwriting Team of the Year
- Winner: Macquarie Life
- Finalists: BT Financial Group, Asteron Life
Claims Team of the Year
- Winner: Macquarie Life
- Finalists: Asteron Life, AIA Australia
Business Support Services/BDM Team of the Year
- Winner: Macquarie Life
- Finalists: Zurich, BT Financial Group