Bulletin 35, 2006
Round up
7 out of 10 – the number of service areas where life insurance and protection providers are not meeting IFA requirements, according to a new report from Defaqto
12 – the number of life insurance industry awards won by LifeSearch during 2006
37% – the number of LifeSearch life insurance and protection applications accepted online at point of sale in November
46 – the number of official life insurance rate changes in 2006, by the same measure there were 50 life insurance rate changes in 2005
75% - the share of RED ARC acquired this week by The Private Health Partnership
End of term report
Well, that was the year that was…No Advice No Protection in the life insurance industry, Virgin Cancer Cover, Life cover price wars, falling life assurance sales, the FSA and OFT reviews of PPI and MPPI, Prudential Serious Illness Cover, ABI Critical Illness review, tele-underwriting, FSA ICOB review, Income Protection Taskforce and last but not least Pension Term Assurance said hello and waived goodbye!
2007 could see falling Critical Illness prices, a continuation of the life insurance price war, more new life insurance and protection products, new entrants to the IFA protection market, improved Income Protection sales (well, we can hope), consultations on ICOB and non-contestability, and no doubt much more.
And for those who have asked, here is the top 5 list of Hero’s since we started the bulletin two years ago:
Bright Grey 10
Standard Life 10
Scottish Provident 9
Royal Liver 8
Legal & General 7
LifeSearch Bulletin 2007
While the details are yet to be finalised we intend to introduce a monthly or quarterly prize competition next year for all journalists who read our bulletin. Watch this space!
We’re also keen to receive feedback on the bulletin from any reader in terms of what you like and what you don’t like. Perhaps the most common request we receive is to add a journalist ‘out of context’ section. Now, Tom and I might be brave, but we ain’t stupid, and so don’t bother suggesting this one!
Comments of the week
‘Those customers who have applied for life insurance policies on or before the 6th December will be treated in the same way as those whose life insurance policies have already been issued - they will continue to benefit from tax relief, and will be unaffected by the announcement in the Pre Budget Report, with the conditions below.’
HMT/HMRC
Hero of the week
Association of British Insurers
While many of us worked and argued behind the scenes on the pensions term assurance debacle, the work carried out by the ABI over the last two weeks, which led to the HMRC decision to treat pipeline business for this type of life insurance as existing business, was excellent – and should be greatly appreciated by each and every life insurance provider and intermediary.
Next time, if there is one, we hope Treasury will consult our industry before causing such chaos.
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