BT Protection Plans to Close

Advisers and licensees have been notified that Westpac Life’s retail flagship BT Protection Plans product range will be closed to new business once the acquisition of Westpac Life Insurance by TAL, scheduled for 1 August 2022, has been completed.

…it is in the best interests of customers and advisers for TAL not to offer two similar propositions in the independent financial adviser market

In an open message to advisers this week, TAL’s GM Retail Distribution, Niall McConville, said the insurer believes it is in the best interests of customers and advisers for TAL not to offer two similar propositions in the independent financial adviser market – hence its intention to remove the BT Protection Plans product suite from sale, once the acquisition of Westpac Life has been completed.

The insurer offered the same rationale when it announced it was to remove the Asteron Life Complete product suite from 1 July 2019, following the completion of its acquisition of Asteron Life from Suncorp a few months earlier. At the time, TAL CEO, Brett Clark, noted “We believe it is in our customers’ and advisers’ best interest not to offer two similar retail propositions in the Retail advised market.”

TAL’s approach reflects that taken by most other acquiring insurers, such as MLC of Norwich, AMP of AXA and AIA of CommInsure. The contrasting approach is the dual brand strategy still being maintained by Zurich following its acquisition of OnePath Life from ANZ. In this instance, however, Zurich positions the two product offers as complementing each other in the market, rather than presenting as similar propositions.