ASIC Reports Poor Outcomes in Direct Life Insurance Sales According to research conducted by the ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) that reviewed direct life insurance sales, consumers are cancelling their policies in very high numbers: 1 in 5 of all policies taken out were cancelled in the cooling off period 1 in 4 of all policies that remained in force beyond the cooling off period were cancelled within 12 months 3 in 5 of all policies sold were cancelled within three years life insurance sold direct compares poorly with other channels when it comes to claims: 15% of claims are declined, with 27% of claims withdrawn “Life insurance is a long-term product but...
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Strategic Insight Actuaries & Researchers has announced the winners of the 5th Annual Direct Life Insurance Awards, which recognise life insurance company excellence in providing direct life insurance products and services to Australian consumers over the past year. Scooping the Overall Direct Life Insurance Excellence Award was NobleOak Life, which also bagged three other awards: the TPD Award for its Premium Life Direct - TPD Option Rider, the Income Protection Award for its My Protection Plan - IP Cover, and the Customer Service Award for Life Companies. TAL also won four awards: Term Life Award for its Lifetime Protect, Funeral Cover Level Premiums Award for its Insuranceline -...
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Term life insurance provides death protection for a stated time period, or term. Term life insurance is perhaps the simplest form of life insurance. It was developed to provide temporary life insurance protection on a limited budget. Since term insurance can be purchased in large amounts for a relatively small initial premium, it is well suited for short-range goals such as life insurance coverage to pay off a loan, or providing extra life insurance protection during the child-raising years. In most states, carriers offer term insurance policies providing level premiums for 5, 10, 20, 25, and 30 year periods. These policies can be renewed or continued at higher premiums in most states. The...
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Finding the best company at the best price requires choices. Matrix Direct and/or AIG Direct Life Insurance offers customers over 10 choices. Similarly, at TermLife2Go, we work with dozens of top rated life insurance companies , representing both exam and no medical exam life insurance . The key with representing so many carriers is knowing what specific advantage each company has over a competitor. This is the TermLife2Go difference. Matrix Direct AIG Direct Reviews Over the years of offering life insurance online, we have often had conversations with clients about one of our largest online competitors: AIG Direct (also less well known as Matrix Direct). For this reason, we decided...
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The seven biggest players in the U.S. life insurance market ended up with a slightly smaller share of direct life insurance premium revenue in 2018 than they captured in 2017. The insurers’ direct life insurance premium revenue fell to $60.6 billion, down 1.4% from the 2017 total. Their share of the U.S. life market fell to 36.3%, from 36.4%. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a group for state insurance regulators, develops the market share rankings to help regulators identify the leading insurance writers and keep tabs on how healthy the level of competition is. For a look at the NAIC’s top seven writers for 2018, ranked in order from least gigantic to most gigantic, see...
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ASIC turns fire on?inappropriate sales tactics? in direct life Direct life insurance is to face the same scrutiny as advised sales, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). In a submission to a Senate inquiry into consumer protection in banking and insurance, the regulator says a recent review “identified potential issues in sales practices for direct or non-advised policies. This distribution channel had the highest average declined claim rates – compared to retail and group policies – and generally higher lapse rates. “This may indicate that inappropriate sales tactics are being used to sell these products to consumers.” ASIC...
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Not our intention to sell ‘rubbish products’, life insurance firm claims A LIFE insurance firm forced to refund $1.5 million to customers says if its products are deemed to be “rubbish”, it will stop. A SENIOR executive of a life insurance firm accused of using unfair sales practices to target vulnerable consumers has told the Banking Royal Commission “as far as I know” the intention was “not to offer rubbish products to the market”. ClearView chief actuary and risk officer Greg Martin was the first in the hot seat as the commission resumed for its sixth round of hearings today, this time focusing on dodgy insurance. The company earlier this year refunded $1.5 million to 16,000 customers...
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Introduction The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has released the findings of its review into the sale of direct life insurance products in the form of two reports: (ASIC) Report 587: The sale of direct life insurance and ASIC Report 588 Consumers' experiences with the sale of direct life insurance. Ultimately, ASIC found that sales practices and product design are leading to poor consumer outcomes and has outlined its expectations of industry to improve. About the review The purpose of the review was to explore whether, and how, the way direct life insurance products are designed and sold contributes to poor consumer outcomes. The review included term life, trauma,...
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Bannister Law is investigating a potential class action against insurers who sold life insurance directly to consumers or through certain distributors. These insurers and distributors include: ClearView Life Assurance Limited; Suncorp Life & Superannuation Limited; The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited; Auto & General Services Pty Ltd selling on behalf of Hannover Life Re of Australasia Ltd; Greenstone Financial Services Pty Ltd selling on behalf of Hannover Life Re of Australasia Ltd; Select AFSL Pty Ltd selling on behalf of St Andrew’s Life Insurance Pty Ltd; and Freedom Insurance Pty Ltd. Direct life insurance is a term used to describe life insurance that is not...
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Australia: Direct life insurance market sees high cancellation rates and poor claims outcomes ASIC's review reveals that consumers are cancelling their policies in very high numbers: one in five of all policies taken out were cancelled in the cooling off period one in four of all policies that remained in force beyond the cooling off period were cancelled within 12 months three in five of all policies sold were cancelled within three years. life insurance sold direct compares poorly with other channels when it comes to claims: 15% of claims are declined, with 27% of claims withdrawn. “Life insurance is a long term product but cancellation rates and poor claim outcomes show that...
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