AC&L revamp leads to top term and TPD award

Money Management/Dexx&r Adviser Choice Risk Awards

Best Term and TPD Products

Winner: Australian Casualty and Life - Protection Plan

Finalist: MLC - Life Cover Standard

Finalist: Asgard - Death and TPD

A WHOLESALE revamp of Australian Casualty and Life’s (AC&L) Protection Plan insurance offering has seen the AXA-owned group take out the inauguralMoney Management/Dexx&rAdviser Choice Risk Award for the best Term and Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) product.

AC&L took out the award ahead ofMLC’s Life Cover Standard product andAsgard’s Death and TPD Insurance offering.

The revamp of the Protection Plan, announced by AC&L last August, saw major enhancements to the product to target it more specifically at business clients, including allowing clients to increase their insured amount without having to repeat the underwriting process.

The general manager of financial protection at AC&L, Tassin Barnard, says research conducted by the group found business people often did not renew the amount of their cover because of time constraints.

AC&L also adjusted its pricing structure to be more competitive for sums insured over $400,000, in recognition of the fact that business clients often had insurance needs above that mark.

The price competitiveness of term and TPD products accounted for 70 per cent of the criteria used by Dexx&r to find the best product in the sector. The other criteria were product features, which accounted for 14 per cent, and definitions, which accounted for 16 per cent.

The managing director of Dexx&r, Mark Kachor, says feedback from financial planners indicated quite clearly that price is the most important factor when it comes to their appraisal of term and TPD products.

The changes to the Protection Plan, according to Barnard, already appear to be paying dividends.

AC&L, Barnard says, has seen a 10-fold increase — from 30 to over 300 — in the number of applications for multi-million dollar term and TPD insurance cover since the relaunch in August.

The boost is also a result of renewed interest in the insurance market generally by financial planners and their clients, Barnard says.

“There has been a lot of interest in the insurance market and a lot of that has been reactionary. The funds management market has been slow and a lot of people are going back to insurance,” she says.

Not that Barnard is complaining about extra attention for the insurance market, and for the term and TPD sector in particular.

“Income protection and trauma are the sexy products, where term and TPD meets people’s more basic needs.

“Everyone needs term and TPD, but it is a fundamental area that is often overlooked,” she says.