Q&A: 'Protection can seem to be shrouded in mystery'

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Q&A: 'Protection can seem to be shrouded in mystery'

Georgia d’Esterre considers protection an area of financial services "which serves a real purpose", but when it comes to  serving women, she says there is a lot more work to be done.

D’Esterre came to the protection industry five years ago with a background in wealth management, an idea of what critical illness cover was but no knowledge of income protection. 

Once introduced to it, she says she "couldn’t get over it".

"I was like 'why doesn’t everyone know about this and have it?' It just seemed a no-brainer to me."

This month d’Esterre was appointed as head of marketing at protection provider Guardian, having recently joined the Women in Protection executive committee, a non-profit founded by industry veteran Emma Thomson, which seeks to raise awareness around the need for protection, especially among women.

D’Esterre talks to FTAdviser In Focus about what needs to happen to make protection a must-have product for both men and women.

FTA: You've just been appointed as head of marketing at Guardian. What are you going to tackle first in your new role?

GdE: Right now, I am busy getting up to speed with all the various projects that are running, as well as looking at things like
adviser marketing, sales collateral and how we launch our next campaign.

It’s important to me to recognise the amazing work that the Guardian marketing team, and the wider company, have already achieved, and for me to then build on this with the experience and skills that I bring with me.

Ultimately, I want everyone in the market and the public to know who Guardian is, what we do and more importantly, why we do it.

FTA: You are on the Women in Protection executive committee. What's your role there?

GdE: I am part of a five-strong executive committee, and I do whatever is needed! The Women in Protection network is a not-for-profit association that was founded by our chairwoman, Emma Thomson.

We run the network because we’re passionate about raising awareness around the need for protection, especially among women. We also want to encourage more women to start, and develop, careers in the protection industry.

FTA: Why is there a protection gap particularly among women? Is this true for all protection products?

GdE: There is a protection gap for many different reasons, some are historical, others are due to myths, lack of awareness, accessibility and affordability.

Historically a woman’s role in society has been very different to what it is today. But while women are now more likely to be working than in previous generations, when looking at heterosexual couples they are still less likely to be the main earner.

The absolute ideal is a protection wrapper, which then allows women to choose what protection elements they need.

Households often end up prioritising the protection needs of the main earner, leaving the partner with insufficient cover should something happen to them. This ultimately has left women under-represented in many financial areas, particularly protection.

FTA: What part does the industry play in this?

GdE: The protection industry can sometimes seem to be shrouded in mystery, with its various products, jargon, clauses, conditions, loadings, exclusions and the list goes on.

There is also a real issue around trust. Customers still, sadly, don’t always believe that insurance companies pay claims and some even think that companies look for ways to avoid paying a claim, which we know to be untrue.

Women tend to be more emotionally involved in a purchase, plus want quality for fair value, and will want to feel that they
really understand the protection they are buying and the benefits it can offer.

I am not sure if this, historically, has been considered enough when developing products, and if advisers bear this in mind when they are doing their due diligence and recommendation to their female clients.

FTA: What about affordability?

GdE: Life is expensive right now and it looks like things are only going to continue that way. Therefore, we need to design and advise on products in such a way that they offer value for money and flexibility, so a female consumer can get the right cover, as some cover is better than no cover at all.

There are many different options that a customer can consider to lower their monthly payments. For example, with an IP policy you can change how long the income will be paid for, how long your customer can wait before they get a monthly payment (the deferred period) and what type of policy they have.

Do their monthly payments go up with their age? Is the cost of the monthly payments guaranteed to stay the same, or can they change? These things can affect the cost of the IP policy, and so an adviser can tailor the protection to the budget their client has.

FTA: Do you think protection products as a whole are adequately targeted at women? 

GdE: There’s more to do in this area, both to better target products to customers and to develop more customer-centric products in the first place.

We need to work on building the need for protection into everyday financial conversations at an early age.

There have been improvements in some areas by some providers, where they have tailored their proposition, their distribution and their marketing 100 per cent around their target market. Recent brands like Polly and Lemonade are a good example of this.

I would say the industry still has a long way to go. But I don’t think it’s about gender specifically, it’s about developing protection products that can flex with a women’s life stages and choices and these products offering peace of mind, so that regardless of what life throws at you, your protection does what it’s supposed to.

FTA: Are we missing products the female market would need altogether?

GdE: I think this is actually more about how we structure products and their flexibility. The absolute ideal is a protection wrapper, which then allows women to choose what protection elements they need.

They might just start with life insurance, then they add some critical illness cover plus some mental health support and a 24-hour GP service. Then they get married and they decide they want to get dual life insurance as well as their CIC.

Then they have a baby and decide to review their protection needs and choose to have IP, with some child CIC as well as a dual life insurance policy.

An adviser needs to be mindful of their communication style, their verbal and non-verbal cues and their overall presence. All of these may affect how a customer will feel in their presence.

Wouldn’t it be great if they could get all this cover without having to go through identical processes with multiple providers? Is there a way we can build protection so it’s open and portable, and easily flexed to lifestyle changes?

The industry has some elements of this in place, but I think we could go a lot further and again make it far simpler for our customers.

FTA: How would you rate the representation of women working in the protection industry?

GdE: It’s getting better all the time. When I first started working in finance and attending events you could quite often count the amount of women in the room on one hand, and you never had to queue for the toilet at lunch times!

Now there are more women at all levels across the protection industry. We still need to do more to allow women to reach senior leadership roles, or act as NEDs, as the senior level roles still seem to be filled predominantly by men.

FTA: Do we need more female protection advisers for female clients?

GdE: I don’t think we should get into an argument of female clients wanting female advisers, it’s not helpful for the industry
and I don’t think it’s true anyway – my financial adviser is male.

But what women do want is for their financial concerns to be heard, to be treated as an equal and not be patronised, and be offered a solution that they understand and fulfils their needs.

An adviser needs to be mindful of their communication style, their verbal and non-verbal cues and their overall presence.

All of these may affect how a customer will feel in their presence. It’s about adapting style and approach because what works with one customer might not work with the next, regardless of their gender.

FTA: What can women bring to the protection industry?

GdE: We already bring a lot and having more women across the protection industry, in a variety of roles, will continue to bring fresh thinking, a new perspective and perhaps more of an empathetic view.

We need to do more to offer women returning to work after career breaks better opportunities to re-join the workforce, particularly at senior levels, so we can capture their knowledge, skills and experience from their previous workplaces, and also from their career break.

This would send a great message and sets a precedent that says women can have a career as well as pursue other interests or life moments like having a child, caring for an elderly relative, travelling, returning to education and so on, and then return to work without being penalised or judged for having a career break.

FTA: In five years from now, how would you like the market to have changed?

GdE: Be more inclusive, accessible and flexible. I don’t want to have to answer questions around how women can be better represented in the financial services industry, or how to target and reach women with important protection messages.

I don’t want to be having gender-specific conversations because there isn’t fair representation in product design, access to advice and how we target and communicate with our customers.

But vitally, I want every family, or independent adult, to know where to go to find out information on how to protect their lifestyle if they become too ill or injured to work.

And when they do decide to find out more about how to protect themselves and their family, that their journey is easy to understand and hassle free, so they can get some protection in place.

 

Georgia d’Esterre is head of marketing at protection provider Guardian and is part of the Women in Protection executive committee

 

 

 

carmen.reichman@ft.com