Opinion

Mental health concerns have been high on the agenda of late, from adviser corporate client discussions to Association of British Insurers conferences and Labour leader Ed Miliband's speeches. How significant is this issue for employers and are insurer...

The benefits of group risk products are severley restricted if payouts are not recieved in a timely manner. John Ritchie airs his concerns.

Selling stuff is simple: a need must be identified, a product recommended to satisfy it and someone to sell it who gets paid for doing so. The protection world however is not so simple.

There has been a growing noise across the industry about the ability of the aggressive aggregators to pilfer protection business from financial advisers.

Product innovation is a term I continue to hear regarding income protection (IP). What do we need to do as an industry to engage the millions of people with a pressing need and ensure IP sales gather pace?

Does RDR apply to protection pricing? This one appears simple. No. Job done. But in reality it isn't that simple.

There appears to be confusion among consumers, some financial advisers and in particular claims chasing companies, when it comes to payment protection insurance (PPI) and income protection (IP).

The challenge for income protection continues. The current focus for most providers is currently on the legislative issues of Solvency II, RDR and gender neutral pricing. These issues are large and distracting from product development.

There has been very little clarity or certainty over funding in the social care White Paper response to the Dilnot report. What does this mean for financial services and its ability to support the gaping funding hole?

One thing you can say about the recent Review of Simple Financial Products is that Carol Sergeant and her team have done their homework. If nothing else, it breaks down and builds up a clear target market for a simple income replacement concept.