{"id":81491,"date":"2026-03-17T16:57:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T05:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=81491"},"modified":"2026-03-19T16:53:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:53:31","slug":"zurich-creates-new-death-cover-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2026\/03\/17\/zurich-creates-new-death-cover-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Zurich Creates New Death Cover Class"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

News that Zurich has changed the way it prices life policies transferred to third-parties attracted plenty of reader interest this week…<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Zurich Financial Services has released a statement to advisers this week announcing it is establishing a new Death Cover class.<\/p>\n

Established for the purpose of ensuring the long-term sustainability of its portfolio, and clearly directed towards policy co-ownership circumstances, the new class or group applies for policies where:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • There is an arrangement where someone else will have a legal or beneficial interest in the policy (such as co-ownership), and<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • That arrangement involves a business that carries on a financial services business related to life insurance policies, and<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • In connection with that arrangement:<\/li>\n
  • \n
      \n
    • \n
        \n
      • There is or could be an assessment of the insured person\u2019s circumstances, such as a health assessment or statistical review, and<\/strong><\/li>\n
      • Someone other than the policy owner could receive some or all of the benefits from the policy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        …policies in this class will have premiums significantly increased<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

        The insurer advises policies in this class will have premiums significantly increased. This increase will apply from the next premium payable for anniversary notices generated from 28 March 2026 onwards, with premiums due at least 30 days later.<\/p>\n

        Riskinfo understands the proposed action has raised concerns, particularly among clients and advisers, with one adviser expressing reservations with the nature of this new death cover class and its potential implications for client entitlements, as well as for advisers and for the broader sector.<\/p>\n

        In its statement, Zurich also informed advisers that if a policy is removed from the new risk class – for example, if the new policyowner under that arrangement transfers the policy back to the previous policyholder, the pricing of the policy will reduce since it will no longer be part of the new risk class.<\/p>\n

        If this happens, Zurich notes it can assist with a 3-month premium waiver for policies that are in the new risk class on 28 March 2026, while the previous policy holder is obtaining advice and deciding next steps.<\/p>\n

        …policies in this new risk class represent a higher risk than the broader portfolio<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

        A Zurich spokesperson has told Riskinfo that policies in this new risk class represent a higher risk than the broader portfolio due to the altered policy ownership and funding structure.<\/p>\n

        How the sector responds to this development will be monitored as the market considers the implications of introducing new pricing classes to in\u2011force business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        News that Zurich has changed the way it prices life policies transferred to third-parties attracted plenty of reader interest this week… Zurich Financial Services has released a statement to advisers this week announcing it is establishing a new Death Cover class. Established for the purpose of ensuring the long-term sustainability of its portfolio, and clearly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":81498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8291],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-81491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-products","8":"category-story-of-the-week"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81491"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81534,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81491\/revisions\/81534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}