A number of factors have increased the demand for Whole of Life insurance including the general demand for an insurance-based solution for IHT planning - the average cost of estate administration is often in excess of £10,000, moving beyond the traditional ‘funeral plan’ market and the cash flow of executors.
Recent pension reforms, with couples looking for financial security for a surviving spouse in the event that longevity calculations prove inaccurate, may also see additional opportunities for simple Whole of Life plans.
LifeQuote's Whole of Life launch follows demand from advisers looking for cross-provider comparisons including both product features and pricing with full transactional service from quotation through to policy inception.
Research conducted by Direct Life asked 300 advisers across the UK what products, if any, they would like to see offered on the portal; a third said a Whole of Life service.
The new service includes level and indexed-linked policies provided with guaranteed rates for single life, joint life first death or joint life second death. Waiver of Premium will also be available on selected policies.
The insurers on the new LifeQuote service are Aegon, L&G, Old Mutual Wealth and Zurich.
Neil McCarthy, sales and marketing director, DirectLife, commented:
“Whether it’s for the purpose of providing a capital sum, paying an IHT bill, or just the need for a fairly large cash lump sum in order for executors to manage probate, the demand from advisers to be able to offer Whole of Life insurance has increased.
"From an adviser’s perspective this is good news, but also necessitates having systems and processes in place that allow them to search across providers both on cover and price and be able to transact on a single platform.”
