MLC Life Insurance has revealed its online underwriting pre-assessment tool is having a positive impact in facilitating life insurance new business for financial planners and other non-risk specialist advisers.
Launched during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, adoption of the insurer’s 5-minute underwriting pre-assessment platform has doubled in the past two years, says MLC Life Insurance Northern Underwriting Manager NSW/QLD, Darren Leonard.
According to Leonard, the insurer’s pre-assessment offer is engaging with all advisers due to the speed of the process, its ease of use and the educational experience that can be utilised for future new business applications.
…feedback from non-risk specialists in particular “….has been fantastic
Leonard says that while the platform, available via the MLC Life Insurance Adviser Portal, adds value for all advisers and their support team colleagues, the feedback from non-risk specialists in particular “….has been fantastic.”
He says the ability for a generalist adviser or paraplanner to access an almost instantaneous initial underwriting assessment of the client’s proposal can make a difference in a number of ways, not least of which is having the tool act as a starting point for advisers who may be required by their licensee to approach multiple insurers on the AFSL recommended list. The immediate response this online tool can provide, says Leonard, can both inform the adviser as to the nature of the pre-assessment requests they direct to other insurers and save a significant amount of time that might otherwise be taken in waiting for initial responses from other firms.
Leonard says the tool will provide indicative potential loadings and exclusions and will also arm the adviser with the knowledge of what additional questions or information they may need from their client. He adds the tool gives the adviser or their support team “…the ability to get inside the underwriter’s head [and] what they would be thinking next,” to help them achieve the best outcome for the client.
…a growing volume of holistic advisers are “…dipping their toe back into insurance”
According to Leonard, a growing volume of holistic advisers are “…dipping their toe back into insurance” amid a growing push from licensees to have them do so. For those advisers, many of them wary of the complexities associated with the underwriting process, Leonard says the 5-minute online pre-assessment tool educates them and gives them a lot more power in their conversations with underwriters.
In a simple summary of the service, Leonard says “For those who are worried about underwriting, this makes it easier for you.”
