There is overwhelming support amongst protection advisers for the introduction e-signatures to speed up underwriting of products such as life cover, critical illness and income protection.
Even though more than 600 US insurers use e-signatures to obtain legally binding agreements from their customers, UK insurers still require a wet signature to obtain further medical evidence for protection applications.
New research from technology provider Liss Systems asked if replacing the wet signature process with e-signatures would result in clients being covered more quickly when further medical evidence was required and 93% of adviser firms interviewed said yes.
David Hanley, managing director of Liss, said: "Given a compliance approved process with no data protection issues, adapting to e-signatures improves the buying process, reduces costs and most importantly reduces delays in offering protection cover.
"It is the norm in many countries and also for other markets in the UK."
The research also found that 86% of the adviser firms would be in favour of using e-signatures with their clients.
Emma Thomson, Life Office Relationship Director for LifeSearch, said: "The move to e-signatures will be another positive step towards simplifying the underwriting process and helping customers arrange valuable protection cover quicker.
"Our industry should embrace this technology and work with other key third parties (for example surgeries) to ensure we can maximise this opportunity for the benefit of consumers."
