Norwich Union has managed to slash its underwriting times by more than half over the past 12 months ...
Norwich Union has managed to slash its underwriting times by more than half over the past 12 months - a clear sign it is serious about improving service levels after receiving strong criticism from the IFA community.
According to Torquil Clark Life Insurance's protection underwriting times league table for 2006, Norwich Union now takes 19 days to underwrite a policy, an improvement of 21 compared with last year's result.
However, Liverpool Victoria appears to have progressively worsened since 2005, with its underwriting times increasing by three days to 24 days. Jason King, managing director at Torquil Clark Life Insurance, said this may be due to the lack of an online submission process for pension term assurance.
The industry average for underwriting a policy was 18 days - a decrease of seven days compared with last year's survey.
Five companies failed to meet the average: Bright Grey, Axa Sun Life, Standard Life, Synergy Financial, and Norwich Union.
At the other end of the scale, Friends Provident, Legal and General, Scottish Equitable and Royal Liver had the best times.
King added: "Brokers do not appreciate the costs of non-clean applications. They need to understand the cost incurred."
