ProtectionNov 20 2014

Post-Pru Vitality launches three new products

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Recently rebranded VitailityLife - formerly PruProtect - has launched three new products just a week after South African insurer Discovery acquired the entire share capital last Friday (14 November).

The company introduced a new life insurance product, LifeStyleCare Cover, which “gives people added flexibility should they suffer from serious ill health during later life.”

It said that the UK protection market has failed to adapt to the changing population demographic, with the focus having been on pre-retirement protection rather than post retirement. It is now expected that around 60 per cent of people over 65 will need some form of care.

The lifelong care cover pays out on death, or crucially, if the individual suffer an illness which leaves them permanently incapable of looking after themselves. The product permits a pre-selected proportion up to 100 per cent of their life cover to be accessed early, in the event of the insured being unable to permanently look after themselves.

An accelerated benefit (20 per cent of the chosen LifestyleCare benefit) will be payable on earlier diagnosis of alzheimer’s, parkinson’s or dementia, as defined by the Association of British Insurers.

VitalityLife also launched a short-term income protection option which will pay out for up to 24 months on each claim. The insurer said this would provide an affordable income protection solution for customers on a tighter budget, and is available in addition to its existing income protection cover.

The company has also brought out the Mortgage Plus Plan - which combines life cover and mortgage incapacity cover to offer protection specifically designed to protect a mortgage.

A recent YouGov poll showed that 26 per cent of mortgage holders had insufficient savings to cover just three of their monthly payments, with 13 per cent unable to cover even one. The same research revealed that only 38 per cent of borrowers had even basic life cover.

The mortgage cover will allow advisers to protect their mortgage clients in the event of death or inability to work due to illness. The incapacity element pays out up to 24 monthly payments should the client be unable to work, following diagnosis of one of a list of 29 specific conditions.

Customers can also choose to add serious illness cover for themselves and/or their children.

Speaking to FTAdviser, VitalityLife chief executive officer Herschel Mayers, said: “Our strategy as a company has traditionally been to innovate and to change the market and to bring new products that we think are relevant to the market place and I think we have illustrated that today.

“We also wanted to coincide these new exiting product changes together with a change of our brand and our whole ownership to 100 per cent.

He added: “We would have launched the product at some point in time but in terms of exact timing and to get a great effect - a big bang approach - that was really the reason behind the exact timing.”

ruth.gillbe@ft.com