In an announcement this morning, MLC said Fast Track cuts the time required for underwriting in half, which then alleviates administrative efforts for financial advisers and clients.
With adviser consent, MLC Life Insurance can now complete a full personal statement with clients directly, not just the health component, with tele-underwriting, the statement said. Simple cases can now be completed in 10 minutes while most cases can be completed in 20 minutes, MLC said.
Melissa Heyhoe, chief customer officer for retail advised insurance at MLC Life Insurance, said the new service comes in response to feedback from clients and advisers.
“Underwriting is an area that has been ripe for innovation in the industry, and we know it is a process that can and should be done better. Fast Track is all about making it simpler and quicker to get life cover, both for the client and adviser,” she said.
“The investment from Nippon Life in our technology and data will enable us to do more than this. We’ll be able to ask better questions at the underwriting stage. Instead of focusing on customers’ faults, we’ll be able to judge risk better by looking at the more positive aspects of their health.
“In the long-term, we expect to make further changes to our underwriting rules engine to improve straight-through processing and therefore reduce the time it takes to get cover.”
As part of the launch, MLC Life Insurance is also releasing an enhanced version of their ‘Professionals Package’. The package is available to newly qualified professional workers registered or licensed within the last three years, including accountants, solicitors and medical professionals.
The package also offers increased limits on life cover for these occupations, as well as increased limits on income protection for new medical professionals.
Also, in response to feedback to meet the needs of high value clients, higher sum insured amounts for all benefit types can now be considered, MLC said.
The sum insured thresholds are now $40 million for life cover, $15 million for TPD cover, $10 million for illness cover and $60,000 per month for income protection.
“We are committed to providing advisers and customers with products and services that meet their needs and more. We believe these enhancements to our underwriting processes and life cover to newly qualified professionals will make life insurance more accessible and relevant,” Ms Heyhoe said.
I find it really irritating when insurers provide a teleinterview service, but still expect advisers to collect some of the non medical personal statement info beforehand. If the new MLC process removes this inefficiency then good on them. Hopefully others will follow.