"The challenge our industry faces is how do we get the consumer onside and trusting this market during their journey through mortgage advice to protection advice."
‘The New Protection Challenge’ report from the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) asked 5,000 consumers and 500 mortgage brokers a range of detailed questions about the protection market.
The 32 page report found that buying a house or moving home are two of the three key drivers to buying protection, while home insurance is considered the most important insurance policy. The majority of consumers said would prefer protection to be arranged before or during the mortgage process, not after.
Despite the importance of protection, less than a third of UK adults can correctly identify what income insurance is and over half of consumers don’t believe protection claim statistics.
The research also found that 1 in 7 mortgage brokers refer protection to a specialist, and that Covid-19 has not impacted the likelihood of getting protection for the majority of consumers.
The launch of the report coincides with the launch of a new AMI Protection Specialists Group (PSG), which combines heads of protection, proposition directors and practitioners across a range of firms, networks and mortgage clubs.
The purpose of the group is to focus on pure protection and general insurance issues, providing insight and front-line experience into issues and opportunities facing the market.
Robert Sinclair, chief executive of AMI, said: “The challenge our industry faces is how do we get the consumer onside and trusting this market during their journey through mortgage advice to protection advice. The research shows a great opportunity for advisers to better engage with customers. Our collective task is to encourage advisers to rise to the New Protection Challenge.
“We appreciate the partnership with Legal & General and Royal London to deliver this work of scale and would like to thank the many advisers who contributed to the report.
“The PSG will help shape AMI’s policy and lobbying positions and develop future strategy in the protection arena. The AMI board wants to hear more from this group as there is a need for representation of member firms that distribute and provide advice on protection products, as this is a core aspect of work that member firms undertake.
“The group will discuss and debate topics that are currently relevant to GI and protection products and affect a mortgage intermediary firm. This will include: Market issues, Regulatory consultations, Industry collaboration.”
Chair of the Protection Distributors Group, Alan Knowles, commented: “The research is very enlightening and could suggest that if protection is being discussed with mortgage customers that it’s not always being done in a manner that impresses it’s true value and importance.”
