A new life insurance product is available through wrap platform Transact and insurance group Ageas Protect. The product, named Integrated Protection Term Life Insurance, is now available through Transact for an initial user group, with full public access planned for 2015.
It provides users with life cover offering a sum assured that automatically takes account of platform assets, meaning that clients only pay for the cover they require.
Access to integrated protection via Transact will be limited to 30 firms in the initial phase, opening up to the rest of the market during the year.
An online portal, developed by Integrated Protection Solutions Ltd (IPS), arranges the cover which is accessed via Transact. Developed by Swiss Re, the portal assesses the client’s circumstances and needs through a series of health and lifestyle questions. The company expects that most participating customers will be offered immediate cover without the need for referral.
Ageas Protect is behind the insurance policy, and Transact will offer support with the use of trusts. Access to this protection product as a service will include a £24 annual fee to cover administration costs. Commission is not generated through the insurance policy and advisers can specify their agreed client fees which can be paid from the Transact Portfolio.
www.transact.com / www.ageas.co.uk
Comment:
Wrap platforms have transformed the way advisers manage client portfolios. The addition of a protection product was a logical step in the support of planning progress.
Offering protection alongside a portfolio makes life slightly easier for advisers. Whether it is planning for retirement or a child’s future livelihood, the tool provides the opportunity for clients to adjust their protection in a manner that suits their goals.
The aim is to cover a shortfall in a client’s assets upon death and connects the assets held on the platform to the sum assured upon the client’s death.
This product comes in the wake of Ageas Protect being acquired by American International Group (AIG) from Ageas Group for £181m. Ageas Protect, the UK life protection providers, will become part of AIG’s global consumer business. The deal is expected to become finalised in the Q4.
Investment-linked protection products are beginning to gain greater traction in the market.
This launch follows Nucleus, which developed Wealth Protect in 2012, an investment-linked range of products through provider Integrated Protection Services. In 2013 Zurich were next in to launch its own product offering, followed quickly by True Potential.