"I attended the Women in Protection 2023 Conference and one of the sessions talked about how the take-up of trusts was low for Life insurance, mostly due to the process being so clunky."
- Amy Pougher, Head of Processing, Admin & Aftersales at Reassured
In 2023, Reassured launched its own branded, signature-free, universal Trust form which is now issued to customers after buying any Life or Critical/Serious Illness policy, along with the brokerage’s innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) welcome emails that include clear instructions on the benefits and ease of completing the document.
READ MORE: Reassured launch signature-free Trust form
“Placing a policy in trust means that nominated ‘trustees’ ensure the proceeds are paid to named beneficiaries faster and without confusion,” explained Amy Pougher, Head of Processing, Admin & Aftersales at Reassured, at the time.
Speaking exclusively with Protection Reporter, she said “I attended the Women in Protection (WIP) Conference in 2023 and one of the sessions talked about how the take-up of trusts was low for Life Insurance, mostly due to the process being so clunky.”
“From experience, I know that many policyholders face claim delays and the absence of a trust is often the cause; it’s awful to see people in that situation.”
Amy highlighted that before the launch of Reassured’s Trust form, paper forms had to be used for most insurer partners and wet signatures were needed from the policyholder and their chosen trustees.
She said: “This old-fashioned system meant many policies never got placed into a trust; I knew there had to be a way to modernise the process and improve the customer journey. Lucy Brown, Corporate Relationships Manager at Reassured, and I took on the challenge.”
Although Amy acknowledged that the industry had made “great strides” in making trusts easier for policyholders to understand, she felt that a universal form and process for all insurers was missing; “I was determined to produce a ‘one for all’ solution. What we came up with was a standard form which doesn’t even need a digital signature to be put in force.”
“It’s easy and feels modern.”
Today, Reassured reported that more than 10k policyholders who’ve purchased protection plans via the brokerage have completed its signature-free Trust form, increasing its return rate by over 200%.
“We wanted to implement an insurer agnostic, digital Trust form that’s fit for the modern world and makes life easier for our customers. The Trust process has been an area lacking in innovation and has remained rooted in the historical procedure of filling out cumbersome forms. We’re proud to have solved this long-standing issue to benefit policyholders,” explained Mark Townsend, CEO of Reassured.
Reassured’s Trust form has legal & compliance sign-off from major insurer partners, including Aviva, Legal & General (L&G), LV=, The Exeter, Scottish Widows, OneFamily, and Vitality.
