Protection providers have forgotten consumers in making products too complicated, according to LV=.
It also believes the recent spate of mergers, acquisitions and departures from the sector does not necessarily mean there is a problem within the market.
Mark Jones, head of protection at LV=, was speaking as the provider announced a 37% growth in protection new business over the first six months of 2010.
Jones is keen to simplify products, including income protection inparticular, in a bid to attract a wider audience.
"Its one of those products I think you can simplify without dumbing down certain areas," he says.
"Sometimes we've added something because it makes it easier for us to look after the risk element and have forgotten that the more complicated we make it the less likely any consumer is going to engage with it, or that any adviser is going to be able to take someone down the journey to fulfill the customer's need.
"As we get better at risk management we can make a better offering to that market and not necessarily assume that the most comprehensive product is always the best for everybody," he adds.
Jones also feels cutting out the now redundant areas could help advisers target more specific customers, and also hints at a greater emphasis on direct sales.
"An awful lot of options were brought in for good reasons at the time but perhaps are no longer appropriate," he says.
"There is now a desire and need to simplify where we've added complications to no apparent benefit, so there will be simpler products about but I don't think all products necessarily need to get simpler.
"We just need to have more segmented targeted offerings, because in certain markets there is less ability for an adviser to take someone through a fully advised process, so you've got to have a pretty simple offering, and a lot of advisers are not going to be able to spend a lot of time with a small policy offering," he adds.
The current upheaval within industry providers does not leave Jones concerned about the state of the sector, but has intrigued him as to what the end result will be.
"A lot of what see is always seen in dynamic mature market," he says "it's just been amplified in this case because of what's happened in mortgage market."
"A lot of companies probably have a fixed level of costs so that's bound to focus the mind and ask ‘is this the sort of market we want to be involved in going forward?'
"It will be interesting to see who the winners and losers are but I'm reasonably confident that we will be one of the winners in the protection space," he adds.
