Direct life call centres not dead, just different
Outbound call centres may have got direct life insurance companies into deep trouble during the Royal Commission but a majority of industry operatives do not believe that means call centres are a dead-letter for the industry.
A poll undertaken during the Financial Services Council’s Life Insurance Summit revealed that most respondents believe that while the traditional call centre model may be dead, it is likely to resurface in a different way.
The poll revealed 56% of respondents believed that call centres would resurface in a different way, while a further 40% of respondents said that there was a future for call centres as part of a well-functioning direct life insurance market.
Only a few respondents said they believed call centres were dead and that there was no future for them.
A webinar panel discussing the future of call centres agreed that while call centres would likely remain a part of the sector, the sales culture which had driven the issue raised at the Royal Commission had changed.
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Policy and advocacy specialist Benjamin Marshan has left the Council of Australian Life Insurers after less than a year, having joined in March from the Financial Planning Association of Australia.
The declining volume of risk advisers meant KPMG has found a rising lapse rate for insurance policies arranged by independent financial advisers, particularly in the TPD and death cover space.
The Life Insurance Code of Practice has transferred from the Financial Services Council to the Council of Australian Life Insurers.
The firm has announced it will no longer be writing new life insurance policies in the retail advised and corporate group insurance channels, citing a declining market and risk adviser numbers.
