AI Issue 4 2017

Acquisition International - April 2017 5 Compare Cover Empowers Customers with Insurance Acceptance Rates As well as displaying the levels of cover provided, life insurance comparison website Compare Cover now publishes acceptance rates for each provider and is the only comparison website that provides these rates for life insurance. Compare Cover’s Business Development Director, Mike Preston said, “buying life insurance is not like buying any other financial or insurance product. Typically, an average consumer will only buy life insurance a few times during their lifetime, so the understanding of what the process is and how providers view applications will be understandably unfamiliar”. Preston continued, “customers will often not appreciate that life insurance companies have their own philosophy as to the type of risks they wish to attract, and as such, customers who initially receive a quotation can then find themselves ‘declined’ having selected their insurance company and provided further medical history and personal details. “This can lead to customers believing that they are ‘uninsurable’ when in many cases, this is not the case and simply a result of the selected insurance company having less tolerance for considering the risk for a particular medical or lifestyle position. This varied underwriting approach between insurance companies is important to understand when selecting your provider.” He added, “when a customer starts the quote process for life insurance, they are generally asked a very limited number of question about their health, often just whether they are a smoker or not. Put simply, at this stage, insurance companies assume that all customers are in good health, which clearly is often not the case. It’s not until a customer clicks through to the insurance company to apply for the cover, that more questions about the health of the individual are asked including height and weight, personal medical history and whether they have any other underlying health issues. “It is after the answers to these more in-depth questions, that insurance companies will consider the risk presented and for some companies with a lesser appetite for underwriting risks may decline to offer cover.” This is why Compare Cover has introduced the ‘acceptance rates’ in order to help customers identify those insurance companies who historically have achieved a greater percentage of acceptance, usually as a result of having a greater appetite and determination for underwriting. Compare Cover suggest that customers who are declined at this stage shouldn’t necessarily give up on getting life protection and instead, go back to the initial quotes presented, examine the different providers’ acceptance rates and try again. Mike Preston reiterated that being ‘declined’ for life insurance at this stage doesn’t automatically mean that a customer is uninsurable, simply that they may not fit into the profile of a certain insurance company’s target market. He explained: “Clearly for some customers with certain medical histories and conditions, it can be difficult to obtain cover from any insurer. However, we want our customers to realise that not all insurers apply the same parameters when considering risks and to reiterate that consumers shouldn’t necessarily be deterred by a rejection for life insurance. Be aware of and consider the acceptance rates when comparing your quotations”. *Between 8th April and 15th April 2016 One Poll conducted an online survey among 2,000 randomly selected British adults. With 31% of Brits declaring that sorting out money and finances is causing them stress*, Compare Cover has continued its drive to help educate consumers about the importance of life insurance and how it works. SIX Financial Information has launched a new Common Reporting Standard (CRS)/ Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) data service, enabling financial institutions to meet the requirements which are being phased in from June 2017. The SIX CRS/AEoI service identifies CRS- reportable client income by flagging relevant corporate actions, simplifying resource- intensive data cleansing and alleviating the annual reporting burden for organisations. The service is commercially available from April, with retrospective data available from 1 January 2017. Under the agreement, member states of the OECD have agreed to the automatic exchange of information regarding individuals with accounts outside their tax residence, following a common reporting standard. Wave one countries, including Germany, France and the UK, will exchange information for the first time in 2017. A further 47 jurisdictions in wave two are committed to start exchanges in 2018, including Switzerland, Australia and Canada. Robert Jeanbart, Divisional CEO of SIX Financial Information said, “CRS requires institutions to have detailed knowledge of the instruments and transactions that trigger reporting obligations. By making it easier for our clients to implement compliance processes, this new offering is an example of how we are using our expertise in corporate actions and regulatory data as the basis for innovative services that solve new industry challenges.” Jeanbart continued, “this new service allows firms to rely on us as a single source for complete, reliable and audit-ready tax content, so they can focus on keeping their business running.” www.six-financial-information.com SIX Financial Information Launches Tax Compliance Data Service for CRS/AEoI NEWS / From Around The World