Unum is optimistic the Money Advice Service (MAS) will still be a strong contender to distribute the recent steering group-proposed simple products, despite recent troubles.
MPs continued to heap criticism on the MAS on Wednesday questioning its lack of focus.
But John Letizia, head of public affairs at Unum, is confident that the MAS - which was heavily mentioned in the recent Review of Simple Financial Products report as a distributor of the proposed product - said he was confident it would be up and running successfully by the report's final recommendations next February.
He said: "We have not got much time left but it is not too late for the MAS to get up and running successfully. I have to say I do have some mixed feelings. I am in favour of the MAS being a strong champion when it comes to financial education and I wish it success.
"It has been having problems and they are quite clear to see. What I would like to see is no wasting of any further time in getting the MAS up and running and successful."
He added it needed to have "a proper plan in place" for the short and medium term and a clear understanding of its man power, commitment and resources was needed when it came to the simple products.
Letizia said the workplace was a strong area to look at as well as the MAS in distributing the proposed simple life insurance, income replacement and savings products.
"I hope the instability of the MAS will not have a bad outcome for the simple products. You can never tell but it has enough support to get it right now," he added.
Simple term life insurance and income replacement products were proposed in the independent steering group report led by Carol Sergeant to encourage consumer engagement with the industry.
The group, set up by the government, published the initial recommendations entitled Review of Simple Financial Products on 2 August.
