Ian McKenna: what caught my eye in protection THIS WEEK
12th June 2020
You know things are getting back to normal when very unusual deals get announced. Few will be stranger than the news from Nikkei Asian Review this week that consumers in Japan will soon be able to buy Cancer insurance from their local 7- Eleven store. The industry has been worried about Apple, Google and especially Amazon moving to sell insurance for many years. Do we now also need to prepare for the days of a Big Mac with fries plus a side of income protection from McDonalds or cappuccino and critical illness at Starbuck or Pret a Manger?
Nearer to home according to Sky, LV= is considering putting itself up for sale personally I hope the firm choose to say independent as a takeover by an insurer already established in the UK would certainly reduce choice and competition for consumers. LV= have a very strong brand and an excellent protection team. If anything, I think we need a few more insurers in the UK life insurance market, not less.
On Protection Guru itself we started the week looking at how Guardian achieved Gold ratings from us across their full product range.
On Tuesday we announced we are taking our Protection Forum meetings where advisers can share views on how to make the protection market work better for them into a virtual environment. The first of these new meetings is on 24th June between 10:30 AM and noon. The agenda includes:
- Engaging the wider advice community in Protection
- Should all lead generation be regulated?
- Learnings from COVID-19 in the context of Protection
Firms who have already accepted our invitation include Assured Futures, Barclays, Cura, Lifesearch, London & Country, Mortgage Advice Bureau, Paradigm Protect, PRIMIS, Sesame, St James Place, Tilney, Towergate and True Potential to name just a few so if you would like to join us you will be in good company. If you have not already registered to join us click here to do so.
Wednesday had Adam Higgs considering if Total Permanent Disability is a useful option to have within a plan and Thursday was the day for significant news about COVID-19 this week. While it was quieter overall Guardian and Royal London both announced they were recommencing face to face medicals as later in the day did Legal & General.
Today we looked at the differences between Life and Critical Illness cover and Life or Critical Illness
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