AXA upgrades insurance products

AXA has announced an upgrade across all the life, trauma and TPD products sold between 1994 and 2005, ensuring that all clients have access to fully up-to-date definitions.

The upgrade, which applies to about 115,000 clients, will be applied automatically at no extra cost.

In the event that an older definition is actually more beneficial, the customer is able to continue with the older definition — although AXA’s head of individual life Stephen Rosengren anticipated this would be a rare occurrence. One example would be when a trauma definition may have become more defined over time and therefore narrower, he said.

The changes are aimed at reducing lapse rates for AXA’s insurance business, although the new system will also likely have long-term cost savings for the business through decreased administration costs. Rosengren added that the changes would also likely result in an increased number of claims.

Some other improvements added to AXA’s insurance policies included the removal of the payment limit of a terminal illness benefit in life (death insurance) plans, and the expansion of the definition of ‘benign tumours’ in trauma plans and options, Rosengren said. AXA also announced a new online feature giving advisers instant access to clients’ policy insurance benefit definitions. Previously advisers had to request up-to-date copies of definition information for older policies — a process that could take several days.