'Stagnant' market in need of a confidence boost
By Lucy Quinton
An industry expert has slammed the protection industry, saying it is both "stagnant" and "lacks belief".
Alison Turner-Holmes, head of marketing of UK new business at Scottish Provident, told delegates at the recent COVER Forum that it was essential the market regained confidence and united together as "there is no point sitting on your own moaning".
She said providers needed to make sure they were listening and helping financial advisers in addition to focusing on products that fitted their own systems rather than looking at new products. She added that the market was premium-sensitive at the moment and that offering real-time premiums would prove to be challenging for the industry.
However, Turner-Holmes said that advisers should also be acutely aware when their clients do not meet standard rates and said that, at the point of sale, advisers should all know their customers very well.
For the market to progress there is a need for more menu products, more severity-based products and more simple products, she said.
Talking about income protection (IP) and critical illness (CI), Turner-Holmes said that CI needed to change but added that it was debatable whether it needed an overhaul, promotion or just tweaking. She was more confident that IP needed rebuilding.
Turner-Holmes said that this would ultimately help the market to regain its confidence in the advice-driven private sector and in its products.
