Zurich Financial Services has introduced a new online application service for its Ezicover life insurance product aimed at giving dealer groups and other distribution partners the opportunity to add it to their own websites.

According to Zurich, the new online application service was developed in response to data suggesting companies needed to demystify life insurance by making access easier.

Head of life risk at Zurich Andrew McKee said middle market clients were typically younger families and middle-income earners with dependent children and a mortgage, and that many of these families did not seek financial advice even though they had a strong need for insurance.

He said the web-based service for Ezicover represented an important step towards simplifying insurance and making products more accessible.

McKee said intermediaries such as dealer groups, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers and accountants who wanted to extend and simplify their insurance offerings might find Ezicover online attractive as a non-advice product that offered simple terms and conditions and do it yourself online calculators.