Simplicity is key: intermediaries and the public using stripped down product
Norwich Union has claimed up to 60% of its term life insurance business submitted through intermediaries is its Simplified Life Protection product.
The news that intermediaries, and the public, are turning to simple products comes on the heels of Bright Grey launching a new simplified life and critical illness (CI) product aimed at consumers buying online without advice. The new product, 'Lifestyle Protection' will be available through the internet intermediary site, theidol.com, which in turn feeds through to GoCompare.com, TescoCompare.com, comparethemarket.com and moneysupermarket.com
The product offers an only inflation link or decreasing term. It only covers the Association of British Insurers standard 23 critical illness definitions Bright Grey believes this is the first CI product tailored for the web.
Commenting, Ian Williams, director of brokers Cavendish Online, said: "It's about giving customers what they want. They insure cars online and want to do the same with other insurance products. These are clean products, suitable for buying online."
The product has a question set designed to allow automatic underwriting. All those with certain conditions will be lightly loaded rather than filtering for heavy/light cases.
Roger Edwards, proposition director at Bright Grey, said: "The people buying from websites are not the sort knocking on IFA's doors, yet our current products were being put online anyway and because of the options and extras they are not looking cheap compared to basic products."
"It is important to understand that this is not a move away from the advisers. This is about segmentation of markets, which we believe is the future," added Edwards.
