Bright Grey products director Roger Edwards says the protection industry has neglected income protection and consistently failed to solve problems with the product.
Edwards says that despite the industry being aware of flaws in income protection, the Association of British Insurers has focused on critical-illness cover instead. He says it needs to look at alternative product structures that meet customer needs. He says: “If you consider that the real customer need is for income protection, it does make you wonder why as much effort has not gone into fixing income protection. “This product has its flaws as well and the industry has been aware of them and has acknowledged them for years, but has consistently failed to solve the problems.” Sales of income protection last year were down by 10 per cent on the previous year and the product is widely considered to be undersold. Munich Re head of marketing Will Adler calls IP a “grudge sale” for advisers because he thinks it takes twice as long for an adviser to complete an IP sale as an accelerated CI sale, with both generating similar commission. Adler says: “In terms of pounds per hour, CI is a far more efficient sale than IP. The same issues arise where the alternative product proposition is mortgage payment protection insurance. “Either way, IP is almost a grudge sale for many advisers. Not because they do not believe in it but because they cannot afford the time commitment involved in selling it.”Recommended
Abbey aims high for annual premiums
Abbey wants to more than double its annual-premium pension and investment business to over £2bn in the next 18 months. It is seeking to increase its number of branch-based advisers from 350 to about 750.
The Pensions Regulator publishes its 2006/7 business plan
The Pensions Regulator has published its business plan for the period 2006/7 with a focus on delivering effective risk-based regulation.The business plan also builds on the regulator’s medium term strategy to strengthnen defined benefit schemes, improve the governance of work-based pension schemes and reduce the risks to members of work-based defined contribution schemes.The Pensions Regulator’s […]
McPhail accuses Balls of misleading savers over ASP
Treasury Economic Secretary Ed Balls has misled savers by saying that an alternatively secured pension is just a way for the wealthy to avoid tax, according to Hargreaves Lansdown head of pensions research Tom McPhail. McPhail says the Treasury could, in many cases, increase its tax revenues by allowing people to choose alternatively secured pensions […]
Small firms will save £12.9 per year in audit bills
The Department of Trade and Industry will shortly abolish audit requirements for regulated small firms and ARs.
Artemis High Income: Crunches vs wobbles
Alex Ralph, manager of the Artemis High Income Fund, talks about high-yield bonds in the US and Europe – and why she favours the latter.
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FCA updates guidance on ‘basic advice’ under Mifid II
Advisers will not be able to give ‘basic advice’ on stakeholder products that fall under Mifid II and the Insurance Distribution Directive, the FCA has confirmed. Basic advice rules, which date back to 2005 and allow the provision of simpler and lower-cost advice to consumers on a range of stakeholder products using pre-scripted questions, previously […]

ABI chief: Brexit deal is taking too long
The director general of the Association of British Insurers has told MPs that a post-Brexit deal is taking too long to form. Giving evidence to parliament’s committee on exiting the EU yesterday, Huw Evans said that “the thinking about what a future relationship would look like with our European partners is not where it needs to be” […]

The future for alternatives: Can esoteric investments win over advisers?
Adviser attitudes towards alternative investments have changed considerably in recent years, but the market remains divided on how they should be used. What was once seen as a niche market has now become far more prevalent and investors are increasingly looking towards alternative investments as a way of diversifying their portfolios and generating returns in […]
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