"One of the biggest issues is the need for providers and advisers to adapt their businesses in the face of technology."
FR: Your current job title is Director of Legal & General Intermediary – what does your day-to-day role involve and what is your relationship with L&G’s intermediary partners?
I’m responsible for the distribution of Legal & General’s Protection and General Insurance products via intermediaries, as well as developing the relationships we have with over 27,000 partners in this channel. Intermediaries are a hugely important channel for us at Legal & General, accounting for a significant proportion of our protection and GI business.
FR: What do you think are the biggest issues facing advisers and providers in the protection market?
One of the biggest issues is the need for providers and advisers to adapt their businesses in the face of technology. Companies like Amazon and Google could be the next big disrupters in the market, as customer demands change and consumers look to alternative purchasing journeys, particularly given advancements in voice interactive technology like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri.
Customers now expect the same digital interactions they enjoy elsewhere, like Uber and Netflix, to be replicated in the insurance industry and by brokers. That said, for many people the reassurance of face-to-face contact with an adviser will always be important. But intermediaries can consider ways of using technology to further enhance this valued experience, tapping into younger customers segments in the process and ensuring they ultimately futureproof their businesses.
We also need to make sure our products remain relevant to customers if we are to have any chance of closing the protection gap. That doesn’t just mean having products which provide comprehensive coverage, but which also don’t overcomplicate things for customers. Crucial to demonstrating this relevance is also continuing to raise awareness about the risks individuals face if they remain unprotected, personalising the potential impact a critical illness or long-term absence from work could have on their lifestyle and their families.
Finally, whether it’s highlighting that the average UK employee has enough savings to last them just 32 days after a critical event, or that we paid out £606 million in individual protection claims in 2016, advisers and providers getting the news out to customers about the importance of protection is central to ensuring customers and their families have adequate protection should the worst happen.
FR: Given your role also covers general insurance, what are L&G’s plans in this area?
We recently launched SmartQuote in our direct business. It’s a market leading system which allows customers to secure a guaranteed home insurance quote in less than 90 seconds, based on just 5 questions and in 2018 we will be using this technology in the intermediary market.
SmartQuote uses big data to allow risk pricing based on the individual property. By using hundreds of unique data points this allows us to produce the quickest GI quote journey in the market. It removes the need to ask customers dozens of questions they are often unclear on; such as construction, year built, number of rooms and if the house is situated in a high flood risk area, which also removes potential non-disclosure risks leading to a simplified claims process.
FR: L&G recently launched ‘Selfie-Quote’ in the USA. Could you tell us a bit about the role this tool intends to play and whether L&G intends to use more technology in the protection space?
Our ‘Selfie-Quote’ launch was a great interactive way of engaging customers, by producing a price that can be used as the basis to start a conversation around protection. It essentially prepopulates an app and produces a quote based on a ‘selfie’ determining height, age and BMI.
Although there is more work to do to fully incorporate technology like this in the protection market, it’s an innovative way of engaging consumers in the protection discussion and an interesting way of seeing the possibilities that technology can offer.
FR: If you could see one headline about financial services this year what would it be?
‘A record number of customers being protected!’
