As the life insurance industry deals with more change, TAL calls for substantially more meaningful connectivity and efficiency in the partnership between advisers and life insurers.
Group CEO and Managing Director, Brett Clark said life insurers have a responsibility to help advisers through this transition period.
“Life insurers must own their part in providing solutions that make a material difference to an advisers’ business, so together we can deliver a better outcome for Australians,” Mr Clark said.
“TAL announced in July a commitment to invest $150 million over five years on new capabilities and initiatives that will improve business efficiencies, and the partnership between advisers and TAL to help deliver life products and advice to Australians. We believe all life companies have this responsibility as it’s the right thing to do,” Mr Clark said.
“We must work harder on becoming a more efficient industry. Some of the practices and customer outcomes are no longer acceptable by modern standards. We have made incremental improvements around the edges over the last few years, but we need more substantive breakthroughs”.
Advisers and life insurers are willing to embrace change and the new TAL’s commitment website is getting excellent engagement and invaluable insights from advisers since launching.
“The response from advisers demonstrates again passion for their clients and the long-term commitment of their profession to the wellbeing of all Australians.
“The key themes we are seeing from advisers focus on advocacy and business efficiencies. Advisers are after content that helps them tell their stories broadly. Additionally, advisers are asking insurers to help them deliver life insurance products and services more efficiently to customers and help them reduce the costs to service their clients.
“In only a short time, the site has received over 4,000 unique visitors.
“I am calling on all advisers to keep telling us what they would like to see from us. Their feedback, insights, comments and discussions are critical for ideas to be put into reality. A collaborative approach will ensure we invest in the right projects and we are committed to taking positive steps towards our future shared success”.
TAL has implemented a number of initiatives that are already being delivered to advisers, with more initiatives underway. These include Social Media webinars, Online Pre-Assessments, Local Area Marketing and Cover Upgrade Express and are expected to be delivered before the end of the year.
Initiatives such as the Social Media webinars and Local Area Marketing are a direct response to adviser feedback on what they need to help their businesses. Additionally, launched initiatives like the TAL Risk Academy are extremely popular with advisers. To date, 3100 advisers have benefited from the Academy this year.
“The future of the life insurer and adviser relationship must continue to evolve from merely transactional to an efficient and seamless partnership,” Mr Clark said.
In relation to the Government’s recent response to the Financial System Inquiry (FSI), TAL believes it appropriately puts the Australian consumer at the centre of the reform agenda, while ensuring a strong and thriving financial system.
“We welcome the response but caution that the reform agenda has been a long-time in the making, and encourage the Government and industry to seek to resolve the issues in the timeframe indicated,” Mr Clark said.