People who obtain life insurance via a financial adviser are more likely to be successful at claim time.
That is the bottom line of the latest data released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
The latest APRA Life Insurance Claims and Disputes Statistics for the September quarter revealed what was described as a “significant variance in the admittance rate between different cover types and distribution channels”.
The data revealed a variation from 99% (Group Ordinary Death and Individual Non-Advised Funeral) to 36% (Individual Advised Accident).
“Generally, Individual Advised business shows higher admittance rates than Individual Non-Advised for the same cover type,” the APRA analysis said.
It said this could be due to the policyholder having clearer expectations up front of what is covered by the product, or (related to the previous point) the adviser discouraging the policyholder from lodging a claim that is not covered by the policy.
The APRA analysis said the exception was Individual Advised Accident, which had an unusually low admittance rate.
