Three in four advisers are submitting more than 75% of their protection business online, according t...
Three in four advisers are submitting more than 75% of their protection business online, according to research conducted by TCP LifeSystems.
The survey, which questioned 217 IFAs in October last year, revealed that 80% of intermediaries were submitting at least 75% of life and life with critical illness insurance applications online. Electronic submission for income protection was slightly lower, with 65% of advisers submitting at least 50% online.
In 2006, 73% of advisers were submitting at least 40% of their business electronically.
The research also showed that obtaining underwriting decisions at the point of sale was becoming more common, with 18% of intermediaries choosing this route for at least 80% of their business compared with only 13% in the previous survey.
Ashley Hale, business development director at TCP LifeSystems, said: "These results are encouraging. However, looking at the results rather than the trends, we can see there's still a long way to go before the industry realises the full potential that point-of-sale underwriting can deliver."
Peter Le Beau, managing director at Le Beau Visage, said: "We follow conventional wisdom when the underwriting process is debated, and it must be time this is challenged. The TCP survey suggests that much more can be done at point of sale to improve the customer experience and to speed up the process.
"We have to heed this as an industry, even if it flies in the face of previous thinking."
