Zurich Life shakes off financial crisis

Zurich Life has taken out first place in the 2009 Money Management/Dexx&r Adviser Choice Risk Company of the Year awards.

The risk insurance company, which reached first place and was a finalist in the Risk Company of the Year category for the first time, was also a finalist in two other categories: Risk Term and Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Rider Product and Disability Income Product.

Receiving silver was last year’s winner, ING Australia, which received gold in the Term and TPD Product category and was a finalist in the Risk Trauma Product category.

Asteron Life — a finalist for the first time in the Risk Company of the Year category, as well as winner of both the Risk Trauma and Disability Income Product categories, came in third.

Head of Zurich Life Colin Morgan said the company’s reputation as a strong, dependable and low-risk company helped it maintain its growth and performance during the financial crisis.

Its strong brand also attracted consumers to join the company, he said.

A restructure of its life insurance products to provide more flexibility and affordability to consumers, and the introduction of a number of improvements to its trauma, income protection and term and TPD products, helped Zurich win the award.

Although unable to manage back-to-back wins, ING’s focus on its overall offering to advisers led to its strong placing, according to head of marketing, retail products and reinsurance Gerard Kerr.

The advisory boards ING established state to state to help deal with the issues that financial planners were facing in each part of the country were an example of going above merely supplying compelling products, Kerr said.

Simplifying its underwriting processes, upgrading electronic processes and reducing the complexity of its products at the same time as improving their quality were some of the themes for the life insurance giant for 2009, Kerr said.

Asteron Life has worked to reposition itself as a risk specialist in the last 12 months, according to executive manager of life risk product David Wright, aligning its underwriters, sales team and claims team to work with the needs of particular advisers. Asteron also increased the flexibility, accessibility and value of its products as a result of the changes.