At the Awards presentation in Sydney today, CommInsure and Tower were both named winners of the Platinum Risk Insurer of the Year Award.  CommInsure also took out the Service Quality and Investment Bond Award and was a finalist for both the Income Protection and Annuity Provider awards. Tower also won both the Trauma and Income Protection awards and was a finalist for the Term/TPD award.

Runners-up for the Platinum award were AXA and OnePath.

In congratulating CommInsure and Tower, Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) National President, Brad Fox said that while Australians generally are under-insured, those who have adequately protected their financial future benefit from the excellent products and services available via the winners of the Awards.

“The AFA/Plan for Life Awards give us an opportunity to annually review the life products and services on offer to our clients,” he said. “It is heartening to see that life companies continue to innovate and enhance their product and service offering, in order to deliver excellent solutions which suit the ever-changing needs of ordinary Mums and Dads.”

AFA CEO, Richard Klipin said the Awards reflect the fact that life companies in Australia are fully focussed on providing better outcomes for consumers and equipping advisers with the tools they need in order to do it.  “This made choosing ultimate winners in all categories extremely difficult,” he said. “When it came to choosing an overall winner, it was impossible to choose between the excellent products and services offered by both CommInsure and Tower.”

Life companies are analysed  by Plan for Life from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective and adviser feedback plays an important part in the process.

Speaking on behalf of Plan for Life, which was bought earlier this year by Asset International’s Strategic Insight division, Senior Vice President, Operations of Asset International, Mike Rosenthal said the risk market represents a huge growth opportunity. “In Australia, there has been 18-20% growth per annum over the past six years. While the GFC has had some effect on this industry, now is the time to invest in product development and service to advisers, ensuring your sails are there to catch the wind as it picks up shortly and we return to double digit growth again.”

Mr Rosenthal also said that Plan for Life was looking forward to partnering with the AFA to take advantage of this growth and grow the adviser market.

In accepting the Platinum Award on behalf of CommInsure, Managing Director Paul Rayson said, “It’s an honour to win this award for the second year in a row. We have been working hard to improve our product and service offering to advisers and customers and this is welcome recognition.

“We will also continue to promote the vital role that insurance advisers play in helping to address underinsurance in Australia. Insurance advisers play a critical role in raising awareness of the need for adequate insurance cover and doing the hard work to follow up and ensure customers actually get cover.”

In accepting the Platinum Award on behalf of Tower, Brett Clark, CEO Retail Life, paid tribute to his team. “I would like to thank our hardworking team who have brought a compelling value proposition to customers in a very competitive market place,” he said. “We too believe that current remuneration models work. It is very important that all advice and manufacturing networks are aligned on this vital issue.”

For a complete list of winners, please click here

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