BT and TAL have claimed early honours in the new Consumer Choice Awards launched by the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Beddoes Institute, being named as the Preliminary Award Winners in the top three categories.
The Awards are split into two areas, Claimant awards – reflecting the opinions of surveyed policyholders going through or have gone through a claims process, and Policyholder Awards – reflecting the views of all surveyed policyholders.
Of these BT was announced as the preliminary winner in the Most Satisfied Claimants category while TAL was announced as the preliminary winner in the Most Satisfied Policyholders category.
Both insurers were also named as winners in other categories with BT named as the preliminary winner for Best Claims Assessment Process, Best Claims Management Staff and Best Ongoing Claims Management within the Claimants Awards section.
TAL was named as preliminary winner for Best Policyholder Advocacy and Best Policyholder Focus categories and was a finalist in two further categories.
These awards continue a succession of industry recognition for BT…
These awards continue a succession of industry recognition for BT which was named as the Life Company of the Year by the AFA and Plan for Life in March, as well as a winner or finalist in the riskinfo/Beddoes Institute Client Service Team awards also in March. Late last month The Risk Store recognised BT for consistent ongoing claims experience over the past six years.
Responding to the preliminary awards BT, Acting Head of Life Insurance, Scott Moffitt said, “At BT, we aim to deliver outstanding service at claim time. We are very proud that customers have recognised our efforts to help them and their families out the best way we can when they need it most.”
The preliminary awards are based on the first wave of in-depth research conducted in March/April 2016 by the Beddoes Institute as part of its Life Insurance Industry Performance Barometer, which created customer ratings from more than 2,100 customers across all major life insurance companies.
At the same time, life insurers needed at least 50 customer ratings to be eligible for a policyholder choice award or claimant choice award with more than 25% of claimants, from participating companies in the past 12 months, who were invited to participate contributing their rating.
Beddoes Institute, Director, Dr Rebecca Sheils said recognition for best service was important at a time when advisers and their clients wanted to be sure they had chosen the right insurer.
“We have developed a quantitative way to evaluate insurers to help give advisers and their clients peace of mind…”
“We have developed a quantitative way to evaluate insurers to help give advisers and their clients peace of mind when selecting a trauma, TPD or income protection insurance provider, based on the experiences of actual customers,” Dr Sheils said.
“It’s like asking a couple of thousand neighbours with experience with those organisations, which ones they rate.”
The AFA and Beddoes Institute have also released indicative research that consumers who made life insurance claims using an adviser were highly satisfied with the outcomes.
An independent assessment of life insurance, Trauma, TPD and income protection claimants from the last twelve months for three major life insurers found satisfaction rates were above 80% for claimants who have a financial adviser.
The results have prompted the AFA and Beddoes to call for more insurers to be involved in a wider study to create an industry wide picture of consumer experiences.
Full list of Preliminary Consumer Choice Awards winners and finalists
Claimant Honours
Best Claims Assessment Process – BT Financial Group – Winner
Best Claims Management Staff – BT Financial Group – Winner
Best Ongoing Claims Management – BT Financial Group – Winner
Best Return to Health Outcomes – AIA Australia – Winner
Most Satisfied Claimants – BT Financial Group – Winner
Policyholder Awards
Best New Policyholder Experience
AIA Australia – Winner
OnePath – Finalist
TAL – Finalist
Best Ongoing Policyholder Experience
AMP – Winner
MLC – Finalist
Zurich – Finalist
Best Policy Material
AIA Australia – Winner
OnePath – Finalist
TAL – Finalist
Best Policyholder Advocacy
TAL – Winner
AIA Australia – Finalist
OnePath – Finalist
Best Policyholder Focus
TAL – Winner
AIA Australia – Finalist
Zurich – Finalist
Most Favoured Brand
Zurich – Winner
AIA Australia – Finalist
OnePath- Finalist
Most Satisfied Policyholders
TAL – Winner
AIA Australia – Finalist
OnePath – Finalist
