By Rachel Williams Legal & General has become the latest insurer to offer a menu of benefits ...
By Rachel Williams
Legal & General has become the latest insurer to offer a menu of benefits product that enables advisers to tailor a comprehensive protection package for their clients.
The move follows the launch of Scottish Equitable's menu-based product Protect, last month.
The L&G product, Protection Choices covers family, personal and mortgage protection and customers can choose from a range of term, critical illness, mortgage income protection and mortgage payment protection policies.
Commenting on the launch, Richard Verdin, director of mortgages and protection at L&G, said: "We were confident that we had a good range of well-priced mortgage and family protection. The next stage for us was to add a layer of flexibility that would give clients the ability to pick and choose their benefits and decide how their plan is constructed."
Customers can select different benefits and policy terms and can select different sums assured for each product in the plan.
This fully flexible approach could help couples that may already have some protection, either through an existing mortgage or through employee benefits and need varying amounts of cover, said Verdin.
Flexibility will also continue once the plan is in force as customers will be able to amend their protection as their circumstances change.
In order to demonstrate the advantages of comprehensive cover, the product is backed with a CD point-of-advice system. "This will allow the IFA to work interactively with the customer to arrive at a bespoke package," said Verdin. As well as useful information on cover and sales aids, the CD also provides a quotation service and an application form.
The insurer believes one of the key attractions for advisers will be the reduction in paperwork it promises. "The product carries one key features document and one application form which re-uses the data from the quotation to populate it."
In addition to its flexibility customers are also set to benefit from reduced plan charges.
"Ordinarily all policies would carry a plan charge but for customers buying a range of benefits we deduct all bar one," said Verdin.
Verdin added that flexibility is likely to become central to protection products and this has been witnessed in the mortgage market with the rapid growth in flexible mortgages which allow borrowers to vary repayments according to their circumstances. He said: "We have already seen this in the mortgage market. People are demanding flexibility because they know that their circumstances are likely to change."
He added: "Any provider that is serious about protection is going to have to be flexible enough to meet the needs of the individual and cater for the fact their needs will change over time. The capacity to offer bespoke cover will be key."
