Bulletin 11, 2007
Round up
2 - the number of life insurance rate changes since the last bulletin, Axa and Legal & General (that's 29 in total so far this year)
22% - Legal & General's share of the group life insurance market in 2006, based upon in-force premiums
43.3% - the number of IFA respondents who think declined claims is the biggest problem facing the critical illness market, according to IFAonline
89% - the number of lone parents with dependent children in the UK who are receiving income-related benefits (source: nat stats).
Out of context
'Now you've got it off you need to get it out'
'I've had some in my time but I ate the best sausage ever last month'
'I once drunk fairy liquid, it was easier to drink than the goldfish'
'It's funny how sitting on the toilet brings clarity to one's thinking'
'Drinking fairy liquid is just male bravado!'
Comments of the week
'The need for financial protection has never been greater, yet lack of consumer confidence is contributing to people failing to invest in the valuable life insurance and protection that they and their dependants need.'
Richard Jones,
Interim protection market director at Scottish Widows
'No-one could ever hope that one day they will have to make a critical illness claim, but when it does happen we want to make sure that people receive the financial support they need. We have put a great deal of effort into ensuring that our application forms are clear and user friendly in order to reduce the number of claims not paid for non-disclosure. These results show that those steps are working.'
Ian Brown,
Protection marketing manager at Skandia
Heroes of the week
Scottish Widows
Who this week announced new critical illness claims statistics. The data shows that between January 2000 and October 2006, Scottish Widows paid out a total of over £120 million for 3,703 critical illness claims.
In the year up to October 2006 a total of over £25 million was paid out on 774 critical illness claims.
Of the claims received during the 12 months October 2005 to October 2006, 16% were turned down compared with 18% in the previous 12 month period. The two main reasons were non-disclosure - 53% and the claim not meeting the policy definition - 43%.
Skandia
Who has now paid over £181 million to 1,920 critical illness policyholders. 88% of claims are successful, an increase from 85% in July 2006. In total 12% of claims were not paid; with 2% due to non-disclosure and the remaining 10% because the definition was not met.
Liverpool Victoria
LV= has enhanced its income protection product features by increasing the maximum benefit available by over 80% to £150,000 and by removing the only remaining standard exclusion across its income protection product range. This makes LV= the first life insurance provider in the intermediary market with no standard exclusions on life assurance, critical illness and income protection.
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