Asgard restructures risk premiums

By Craig Phillips

Asgard will offer a 28 per cent reduction in risk premiums for larger employer groups while raising rates for some personal insurance products by up to 40 per cent, following the re-appointment of specialist risk group PrefSure to the Sealcorp-owned platform.

Employers with more than 50 lives insured will receive a 28 per cent reduction in premium rates for life, life and total permanent disability and salary continuance, while groups with less than 50 lives insured will receive a 13 per cent reduction in premiums for the same risk offerings.

Meanwhile, in the area of personal insurance, income protection, salary continuance and business expenses protection, rates have increased by 40 per cent — with the rises to take effect from November 1.

Asgard says the premium increases offered through PrefSure are in line with market rises in the area of personal insurance.

PrefSure, which acquired Lumley Life late last year, has been signed-up for an additional three years to the Asgard platform following consultant firm Rice Walker reviewing the master trust’s insurance arrangements.

The rate reductions will benefit up to 36,000 of Asgard’s 50,000 customers, while a small group (2,000 to 3,000) will be impacted by the higher rates.

PrefSure has seen the level of business written to it via Asgard rise from $7 million in 2000 to nearly $30 million this year.

Asgard is also planning to introduce an additional product line of continuance salary benefits for employer groups (those up to 65 years old) over the next year, and according to Sealcorp chief executive Geoff Lloyd, is also in the process of streamlining its medical underwriting processes.

“We are delighted to deliver such significant savings to employer groups in a market where insurance premiums have risen dramatically in recent years, especially in the salary continuance area.

“We are confident that our new three-year contract with PrefSure will deliver further savings to our clients and a wider product range,” Lloyd says.

At the end of the 2004 financial year, Asgard reported it had $18.5 billion in funds under administration and provided services to more than 4,000 advisers in Australia.

Despite this, the recent Money Management Top 100 Dealer Group survey revealed that Colonial First State’s (CFS) FirstChoice platform had surpassed Asgard as the platform of choice for dealer groups.

In the 2003 survey, Asgard, Navigator and BT Wrap topped the list of most commonly nominated platforms, with CFS FirstChoice sharing an equal fifth position with MLC MasterKey.