"Protection remains an extremely important area for us as a network, and our member firms have everything at their disposal to be successful in this space."
- Rob Clifford, CEO of Stonebridge
Guardian and Zurich Insurance join AIG, Aviva, Legal & General, LV=, Royal London, and Vitality on Stonebridge’s protection panel.
Member firms to the network will now have access to Guardian’s full suite of products which include features such as its enhanced terminal illness definition for Life Assurance, optional children’s Critical Illness (CI), dual life approach, ‘own job’ definition, enhanced terminal illness definition, and premium waiver as standard on all covers. Guardian’s proposition also includes ‘Life Essentials’, which was launched in January 2024 alongside new definitions for Dementia and Low-Grade Prostate Cancer.
READ MORE: Guardian announces significant changes to its protection menu
Stonebridge’s firms will have access to Zurich’s recently enhanced CI proposition which offers policyholders more flexibility with its improved ‘modular’ approach. This proposition was launched in September 2023 and is predicted to have a “significant impact on the market going forward,” according to CIExpert.
READ MORE: Zurich set to have a “significant impact on the market” with new critical illness proposition
Notably, for customers planning to start or add to their family, advisers can discuss Zurich’s pregnancy & early childhood add-on which can be removed during the term to suit the customer’s needs – children’s cover options can also be added to a Life Assurance policy.
Stonebridge believes the additions of Guardian and Zurich further strengthens its overall protection proposition, which also provides AR firms with access to iPipeline’s Solution Builder. Alongside these resources, members have access to Business Development Manager (BDM) support and an in-network referral option (Stonebridge Protect) for firms wanting to redirect clients to a specialist.
“Our protection panel and broader product provider solutions are all about providing Stonebridge AR firms and advisers with as much choice as they need, in a vitally important sector,” explained Rob Clifford, CEO of Stonebridge. He highlighted that Consumer Duty demonstrates the importance of going beyond mortgage advice, “we are therefore very pleased to have appointed both Guardian and Zurich to our protection panel, widening the already comprehensive product options available to our network partners.”
Vincent O’Connor, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Guardian, shared his delight; “Stonebridge advisers are focused on providing their clients with high-quality advice and products, and our proposition fits hand in hand with that.” Guardian will be running training sessions with all Stonebridge advisers over the coming weeks and BDMs will be calling to introduce themselves.
“We are delighted to be joining the Stonebridge panel, which extends our reach and will provide more customers with access to our innovative product range,” added Louise Colley, Director of Protection at Zurich. She hopes this is the beginning of a long and successful partnership.
