"Advisers continue to strive to ensure every customer is properly protected across multiple areas and increased efficiency in providing advice gives them back the most important thing, time."
- Stephanie Hydon, Client Distribution Director at iPipeline
Coinciding with Swiss Re’s ‘Term & Health Watch’ 2024 Report, iPipeline surveyed advisers on the future of protection sales. Of those surveyed (200-605 adviser responses per question), 47% said they ‘strongly agree’ that 2024 is shaping up to be a positive year in terms of protection sales growth – this is 10% higher than in 2023.
Notably, advisers said they’re most positive about growth in Income Protection (IP) sales (43%), followed by Critical Illness (CI) (23%), and Term Assurance (21%).
“There does seem to be a growing sense that protection advice is changing for the better and that quality is starting to trump quantity. The move to recommending a better-quality mix of protection solutions could be why we’re seeing the growth of IP,” said Stephanie Hydon, Client Distribution Director at iPipeline.
“Our own data also evidences the continued popularity of multi-benefit plans, which accounted for 46% of new policy value applied for through our adviser portals last year, up from 42% in 2022,” she added.
Andy Walton, Protection Proposition Director at Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB), said in 2023, MAB issued over 31k IP policies which accounted for more than 15% of the UK market. “IP sales have not come at the detriment of other crucial areas. We’ve seen a continued increase in multi-benefit (protection portfolio) sales with most customers appreciating bespoke advice and the ability to diversify their risks,” he said.
“Our partnership with iPipeline has helped our holistic approach to giving advice in this crucial area for customers,” Andy concluded.
