Bulletin 1, 2008
Round up
2 - the number of rate changes since the last bulletin (Axa and Royal Liver)
7 - the number of awards won by LifeSearch in 2007
10 - the number of critical illness cover providers who published paid and declined claims statistics in 2007
10 - the number of complaints received by LifeSearch in 2007 (from more than 25,400 applications - a customer satisfaction rate exceeding 99.96%)
82 - the total number of official rate changes in 2007
Feedback form of the week
http://www.lifesearch.co.uk/feedback/feedback.pdf
Industry comments on 2007
"It has been a difficult year in the protection world with the withdrawal of Standard Life and withdrawal of Widows from the portals. Added to this the mortgage market has had problems which directly affects volumes. But there are encouraging signs of increased IP sales (up over 25% so far) and some real innovation from a number of players. We still need more diversity and ideas and these tend to come from new players-the sector is rejuvenated by new propositions and I look forward to a number following in the footsteps of PruProtect in 2008.>
Peter Le Beau,
Le Beau Visage
"I would say it has been a year with glimmers of hope. Some dead wood has disappeared with some potential new suitors taking their place. Ironically the slow down of one market (mortgages) has and will help protection achieve greater sales. But the drum needs to be constantly banged an getting more case studies in the press is one of the best direct mediums."
Roy McLoughlin,
Master Adviser
"I was pleased to see that some companies are looking for ways to add value or, dare I say, innovate. However, I was disappointed that price is still perceived as the most important factor when marketing or making recommendations in protection"
Peter Chadborn,
CBK
"The price war has continued and has even been hotting up with more re-prices than ever before. The challenge for the protection industry is to avoid the fight for price leading to more restrictive underwriting, more difficulty in placing business and ultimately fewer sales. The Protection market has remained flat but the Protection Gap is growing. The opportunity is still out there for the industry to find innovative ways to help more consumers to purchase the cover they need. This will be increasingly important if the mortgage market declines. Claims have been getting a higher profile and LifeSearch has been at the forefront of this. There are signs the industry is now looking at ways it can pay more claims, and we think this is a big step forward. The greater acceptance of tele-underwriting in the UK market will really help reduce the number of claims declined. But there's a lot of work to be done!
Mark Richards,
Axa
Protection press watch
We counted at least 204 positive and balanced protection articles in the consumer press in 2007, which is almost four a week on average.
The consumer titles most likely to cover protection in 2007 were The Telegraph, The Times, The Sunday Telegraph, The Express and The FT.
Out of contexts
'Are you a bunny man or a santa man?'
'Mrs H wants a new kitchen!'
'Protection is a small but perfectly formed patch'
Hero of the week
Legal & General
Who received both the highest amount of protection business from LifeSearch as well as the highest number of 'Hero' comments in 2007.
Norwich Union, Friends Provident and Scottish Provident each received three hero nominations while L&G received 5.
