Speaking to Risk Adviser, TAL general manager of product and distribution, Niall McConville, admitted the life insurer is not “systematic or streamlined” in the way it conducts pre-assessments for new insurance business.
“Today, advisers can spend hours on completing and submitting application forms for their clients, which for medical reasons do not complete,” he said.
“Our experience at TAL shows that thousands of policies each year don’t get completed and this translates into non-productive, tens of thousands of hours that might have been reduced or removed with a more efficient and easy online pre-assessment process.”
To make conducting pre-assessments more efficient, TAL is launching a new online process that will help advisers save time when submitting new business, Mr McConville said.
“[This month] we are launching an enhanced online pre-assessment process that will allow advisers to submit pre-assessment requests to a central repository,” he said.
“This will allow advisers to submit a client’s medical and financial information quickly and securely online. Once submitted, the form can be accessed immediately by one of our underwriters, who will review and provide a faster response.
“It goes without saying that as we get older, we face more health challenges and the application process becomes more complex,” Mr McConville said.
“Pre-assessments can help get a decision faster and we plan to make the pre-assessment process more efficient – this is a win for clients, advisers and TAL.”
