An exciting end of year Forum, the AMI viewpoint report and everything else that happened last week

It has been another busy week at Protection Guru with a product update from Legal & General, the launch of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries’ (AMI) Viewpoint Report and our usual analysis. I would like to start however by introducing our last virtual Protection Forum of 2021. The session will be run on 7^th December between 11am and 1pm and will be a review of the last year and a look forward to 2022.

The forum will be split into two sessions:

• In the first session we will have a number of advisers spending 5 minutes each discussing the last year in terms of positive industry advances and then less positive moves. We will also be asking them to provide a wish for the New Year in terms of something they would like to see the industry do better.
• In the second session we will be asking representatives from insurers to spend 5 minutes each looking ahead to 2022 and giving their predictions of what the New Year will bring in terms of underwriting, claims and product development.

The sessions promise to be packed full of insights and reflection, and the adviser line up is already looking very exciting:

Confirmed Adviser Speakers

If you would like to register to attend the event you can do so here.

Moving on, the AMI viewpoint research was released on Wednesday 17^th November and, as promised, it highlighted some very positive news and a number of areas where the industry still needs to work harder. 5,000 consumers and over 250 Mortgage & Protection advisers were surveyed for the research and one of my key takeaways was that the 18-34 age group seems to be the most receptive to protection conversations and want more information in terms of annual statements, case studies and claim stats.

It is really positive that the number of mortgage brokers now referring business to protection specialists has increased to 25% (from 12%), however we still have a massive perception problem. Consumers still do not believe that the vast majority of claims are paid with Income Protection being the product that consumers believe is less likely to pay out. Next year it would be interesting to see if perception of claims paid varies by age group.

The full report is fascinating and should be read by all advisers to help support and inform their own protection conversations. You can still watch the full presentation and/or download the report by clicking here.

Turning to the other events of the week and we kicked off with a recap of the winners from the Prestige category at our inaugural Protection Guru Awards. On Tuesday we took a deeper dive into Legal & General’s increase in age limits for Critical Illness and looked at how these compare to other insurers.  Later that day we also released the third instalment of our October Protection Forum coverage which centred on the discussion about bridging communication gaps.

Rob Harvey investigated which insurers have the highest non-medical underwriting limits for critical illness on Wednesday and on Thursday we identified which insurers make it easier to increase income protection.

To wrap up the week, we released all of the photo’s from our Protection Guru Awards along with 4 other awards stories you should read.

Empowering Advice Through Technology 2022

Protection Guru’s parent company, FTRC, in association with The Personal Finance Society, are delighted to announce the return of their Empowering Advice Through Technology conference which will be held in central London on 27^th January 2022. 

If you are an adviser who is looking to drive real change in your firm, this is a practical day designed to help advisers: 

• Understand how emerging technologies can enhance the user experience for clients
• Recognise the benefits that technology can deliver to their business in terms of time savings and reduced operating costs
• Source the technology solutions that best meet their needs

The event will comprise of four plenary sessions exploring different areas that are essential for adviser firms to consider, combined with sixteen “disturbance demos” to show leading edge technology which can help transform advice businesses. 

The conference programme will be complemented by an exhibition area, providing delegates with the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with event speakers and demoing companies over refreshment breaks, lunch and a drinks reception to close the conference. 

To coincide with the launch, we have “Super Early Bird” ticket prices for advisers who register by 30^th November 2021. 

For more details about the conference, and to book your place, please visit https://www.advisersoftware.com/eatt-2022/

Benefits Guru

Over on Benefits Guru, Tuesday’s insight from Kat Mitchell looked at the auto-enrolment tools provided by workplace pension providers, and what aspect of auto-enrolment duties they can help with.

Understanding annual benefits statements was the subject of Kat’s insight on Thursday.

Adviser Software

We began the week with an examination for Twenty7Tec’s cloud-based mortgage sourcing system “Source”.

On Tuesday we turned our attention to the Synaptic Comparator switching tool.

AdviceObjects and their cash flow tool was the focus of our Wednesday insight.

Thursday’s insight highlighted our forthcoming Empowering Advice Through Technology 2022 conference which, as mentioned above, will be a ‘must attend’ event for advisers looking to future proof their businesses.

The next Investment Forum meeting will take place on Tuesday 23^rd November at 11am.  The discussion will centre around advances in investment service advice being delivered in the US and Australia using advice tech:  

• It will feature a look at one of the most exciting new financial technology systems in the world from InterGen Data which recently won third place at the UBS Future of Finance 2021 challenge. 
• Also, Finocomp from Australia will explain what they are trying to achieve with their Cobalt CGT calculation tool, MPM model portfolio management service for financial advisers and DFMs and their Insight Portfolio Performance tool. 

Advisers can register for a complimentary ticket to attend the event via this link.

So now we look forward to the coming week!

Whatever you are doing, have a great one!

Adam