PIS to launch risk master trust

ProfessionalInvestment Services (PIS) has confirmed it is working towards the launch of a master trust for risk insurance products and is currently in talks with a number of risk providers over the product, including Royal SunAlliance.

The managing director of Professional Accountants Limited (PAL), the PIS owned consolidator group for accounting businesses, Grahame Evans, says while the launch of PIS’s risk master trust is not imminent, it is on the business’ agenda, with a lot more work still to be done on the product.

“We are working in collaboration with the insurance industry. It could be as quickly as four weeks, or it could be as quickly as two years,” he says.

Evans says the advantages of a risk master trust is its ability to offer the client an opportunity to change their risk provider when their life circumstances change.

“At the moment, you can’t move from one insurance group to another. So when you get sick, you’re stuck with them come hell or high water,” Evans says.

PIS is looking to address some of the industry concerns surrounding risk master trusts, including the assessment of the real risks associated with moving from one risk product to another, how to cost these risks and the effect these movements have on the cost of the product.

The news follows a significant quiet spell on the risk master trust front, with the launch by Associated Planners of its risk master trust, Solar, 18 months ago being both the most recent and first risk master trust to hit the market.

However, according to Associated Planners managing director Ray Miles, the group has made slow progress in attracting insurance companies to list their products on the master trust, with only two insurance groups currently listed. “It was never going to be easy. I don’t know why anyone sees it [risk master trusts] as the Holy Grail,” he says.

Solar currently has $5 million funds under management, however, Miles says the product needs at least six carriers to make it profitable.