{"id":81617,"date":"2026-03-24T15:38:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T04:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=81617"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:41:07","slug":"adviser-reaction-to-new-zurich-death-cover-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2026\/03\/24\/adviser-reaction-to-new-zurich-death-cover-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Adviser Reaction to New Zurich Death Cover Class"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our report on the industry’s response to Zurich\u2019s decision to significantly raise premiums on life insurance policies involving third-party funding generated plenty of reader interest this week…<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Zurich\u2019s decision to create a new death cover class and significantly raise premiums on life insurance policies involving third-party funding arrangements has generated strong debate across the adviser community (see: Zurich Creates New Death Cover Class<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Among the many responses shared directly with Riskinfo or posted across social media platforms, one adviser has questioned the underlying logic of the insurer’s decision, arguing there\u2019s no clear link between partial policy ownership and mortality risk.<\/p>\n

…the focus appears to be on premium growth rather than policyholder outcomes<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, another reader has raised concerns about the broader context, pointing to reports of strong profitability from Zurich\u2019s Australian operations. He questioned how such results align with what he sees as a lack of customer value, arguing the focus appears to be on premium growth rather than policyholder outcomes.<\/p>\n

The adviser also detailed the direct impact on clients, saying he had been advised a policyholder\u2019s premiums would rise by 400% (payable by the third party).<\/p>\n

…pricing risk premiums could not have foreseen the effect from such policy co-ownership models<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While the majority of commentary to date has questioned Zurich’s move, one comment supporting the initiative argues third party or policy co-ownership models extend policy lifecycles beyond the norm and questions the effect this would have on claims and premiums for the wider insurance pool. The adviser said pricing risk premiums could not have foreseen the effect from such policy co-ownership models.<\/p>\n

He therefore supported the insurer for effectively isolating these premium movements only to those policies adopting the co-ownership model criteria as outlined by Zurich, rather than exposing the broader book of policies to further potential premium increases.<\/p>\n

Riskinfo has contacted consumer groups, regulators, other insurers and interested stakeholders for comment and will report further responses and developments as they come to hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our report on the industry’s response to Zurich\u2019s decision to significantly raise premiums on life insurance policies involving third-party funding generated plenty of reader interest this week… Zurich\u2019s decision to create a new death cover class and significantly raise premiums on life insurance policies involving third-party funding arrangements has generated strong debate across the adviser […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":81623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8271,8291],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-81617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"category-pricing","9":"category-story-of-the-week"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81617","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81617"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81743,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81617\/revisions\/81743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}