Who topped the Protection Guru rolls of honour for 2020

This really has been an unbelievable year, just when it looked like it could not get worse, the Prime Minister, necessarily it appears, has effectively cancelled Christmas while we are all disappointed, I see much to be positive about in 2021.

One of the things that has really struck me about this year has been the strength of the protection family and how so many people have worked together to help the public in difficult times. We have all had to adapt an in my experience protection advisers have done so especially well. It has been great to virtually meet so many new adviser friends through our Forums and your feedback about Protection Guru.

It has been a tough tie for insurers too and it has been noticeable how much advisers appreciate this hard work. During the year Protection Guru has produced over 200 details studies to designed to provide the protection adviser community with the No 1 technical site in the industry. To be clear we are not a media site, which is why for example we did not write about for example LV= being purchased by Bain Capital last week or Aviva hiring a new Life Insurance CEO for UK and Ireland. Conversely, we did write about the new features and changes LV= made throughout the year to help advisers and their clients impacted by COVID-19 and had the detail of what Aviva Digicare+ would offer individual protection customers before any other analysis and in more detail.  

Protection Guru will always write about the detail of products and services that will impact how advisers give advice and provide the information. We thought it might be helpful to provide a summary of all the different analysis we have produced in one place to make it easier for advisers to find individual studies, this is below.

As it is the end of the year, I want to look at all the major announcements over the last 12 months and highlight the ones I think have been most significant from each of the leading insurers in the market. Let me begin with AIG’s move to impact based cover is a really significant and shows how the whole market has embraced moving from condition counting to something far more closely aligned with customer needs. Ironically while it is a simplification, I do think it reinforces why if you are really going to have detailed analysis of medical condition it must be conducted by people with formal medical training and the proposer qualifications both in medicine and epidemiology.

Another key trend in the market this year was for Insurers to provide more than just catastrophe protection so that the benefits are delivered year in year out and the client becomes actively engaged with the contract. A great example of this is Aviva’s DigiCare+ offering for individual market

It was great to see Guardian’s performance in our product ratings where they achieved gold across their full product range. My highlight of Legal & General’s year was the launch of their new Income Protection products offering both low-cost options and shorter deferred periods for those who need them. Of course, we would all rather clients had the most comprehensive of Income Protection plans but it is important to have at least some cover so this is excellent for those on a tight budget.

I was equally delighted to see the launch of LV=’s new Family Income Benefit plans this is such an effective way to protect young families and it is very much an under utilised gem in the protection field so well done to LV= for filling that gap. Royal London’ move to change encourage the adoption of a practical alternative to trusts is also really good news for advisers and clients alike. I know Guardian will say they have offered something similar from launch, but the Royal London move puts positive pressure on other insurers to change.  

I have already mentioned Critical Illness simplification but it is important to acknowledge the great work done by Scottish Widows in this area not just with a simple contract but also great graphics. The whole market needs to do more to help consumers understand how affordable Income protection is and The Exeter did some exceptional work this year producing their Income Protection toolkit. If you have not examined this yet do please find some time to have a look

I think the biggest stand out moment of the year for me was actually Vitality’s substantial simplification across their product range. Although I think there are still some more things they can do this was a huge leap forward and as I said ta the time it is time to look again at Vitality if you have not already.

Finally, as the overall league table that follows shows Zurich have been called out for more distinctions on Protection Guru this year than any other company. Just about every insurer talks about wanting to be easiest to deal with but when it comes to objective measurement of such statement our Operational Ratings stand alone as a comprehensive analysis of how insurers use technology to provide adviser support. Zurich also topped these results too.  

So the above is my summary of the highlight from the insurers I think really matter in the market but let’s have a look at the overall output from Protection Guru. The league table below shows how many articles each insurer has featured in out insight studies. This includes the number of times they have had features highlighted, the number of times they have featured in analysis and the honour positions are decided by the number of times we have callee them highlighted each company as a market leader in different areas.

Protection Guru Overall Roll of Honour 2020

The underlying tables break our rolls of honour down to look at each time a company has been covered in a study looking at a particular area. Such studies may also look at other areas. Underneath each of these summaries you will find links to each on the insight studies on the relevant product area.

Protection Guru Income Protection Roll of Honour 2020

Income Protection Articles 2020

Protection Guru Life Insurance Roll of Honour 2020

Life Insurance Articles 2020

Protection Guru Critical Illness Roll of Honour 2020

Critical Illness Articles 2020

Provider specific updates

In the New Year Protection Guru will be undergoing a major overhaul to make it easier to find information on specific subjects and there is also another very special services we will be launching to help advisers, so watch out for that in the New Year

At the end of the year, I must pay tribute to the great team I have the privilege of leading Adam Higgs, Steve Berry, Samamtha Smith Emma Iszowitz and Quinton Clasquin.

I can’t finish without also paying tribute to the team that work on our sister sites Benefits Guru and AdviserSoftware.com who do a huge amount to keep Financial Technology Research Centre running.

Jason Green has done an incredible job bring in Benefits Guru to market in 2020 and Adam Flowers has created a wealth of exceptional content which you will see early in the New Year to help firms find the technology that can best help advisers run their businesses.

Happy holidays everyone stay safe, 2021 must be better.