In days of yore very little work was done in insurance offices in the run-up to Christmas, but in these straitened times the introduction of the European Union Gender Directive on 21 December was a watershed for the industry.
In an attempt to get business on the books before premiums went up, there was a concerted sales effort by advisers and tied sales forces.
There was the additional impact of a change in the taxation system, which also added to the cost of premiums, which meant it made a lot of sense to beat the deadline.
The trouble with deadlines is that once you beat them you can be left twiddling your thumbs wondering what to do next and this was very much the challenge for the industry in 2013.
Added to the aforementioned changes was the implementation of the RDR, which had a significant impact on the adviser market and forced any intermediary who was looking to continue his business – and I know a few who gave up the ghost – wondering if the Brave New World was not a nightmarish foretaste of the future.
Regulation
We also had a new regulator in April – two to be precise – and on top of this a continuing recessionary mood beset the country. Marketing budgets were cut (again) and the housing market, while showing signs of spluttering into life, did not quite begin to fire on anything like all cylinders until very recently.
Those market observers who had predicted a flight to protection because of the RDR (the 23rd flight to protection in the past 25 years) were wrong for the 23rd time as new business stumbled below 2012 levels.
A few major personalities changed jobs. Nick Kirwan left the Association of British Insurers, where he had done a good job in overseeing the life and health market through troubled times.
The lady who assumed his duties along with her previous ones at ABI is Helen White and I am pleased to say that she has thrown herself very positively into the range of challenges the protection market faces.
Richard Verdin, one of the most influential and forthright figures in protection, left Aviva and will resurface in the world of reinsurance next year when he heads up RGA’s marketing. Meanwhile, his predecessor at RGA, Jason Hurley, moved into reinsurance broking. Both men can be expected to make a big impact in their new roles.
Online
Elsewhere, people puzzled at how to make direct-to-consumer marketing work online, with Beagle Street providing a new proposition that will hopefully show the way in that direction. The debate continued over severity-based critical illness cover and PruProtect continued to innovate in that area.
Meanwhile, the rather quiet consultation on Simple products did inspire some new simple IP propositions and suggested a focus on a group-based product (piggybacking on auto-enrolment?) next year. Parliament continues to refine the original ideas of Andrew Dilnot on long-term care while the industry must decide whether it wants to play in that arena.
As we approach the end of a flat year in production terms, am I optimistic? Yes, partly because I am stupidly naive, partly because I like what I see (and so do lots of other people) at the MAS who have a real desire to grow the protection market.
Furthermore, the Family Support Initiative aims to blow the doors off anything the rather sedate IP market has ever achieved. Injecting life into the IP market has hitherto proved difficult, but watch this space very closely – 2014 might just be the year everything changes.
Peter Le Beau is co-founder of the Income Protection Task Force
