Australia’s fastest growing life insurer, AIA Australia, has expanded its distribution reach by launching its multi-award winning Priority Protection for Platform Investors product on the Personal Choice Private platform.
The platform is a private label platform administered by Asgard for members of the Association of Independently Owned Financial Planners (AIOFP).
The partnership with Asgard is the second platform partnership AIA Australia has established in little more than a year.
Head of Retail Distribution, Pina Sciarrone, said advisers were writing more business via platforms due to features such as simple functionality and cash flow advantages for end clients (the latter stemming from the fact that insurance premiums are paid from superannuation or investment accounts).
“Advisers are now writing a third of their risk business through platform providers due to the ease of use and accessibility* .
This trend has driven changes to AIA Australia’s business structure and product development to ensure our products and services remain relevant to our adviser, dealer group and platform partners as this market continues to grow,” Ms Sciarrone said.
AIA Australia’s first platform partnership launched on the netwealth Life WRAP facility in September 2011. Ms Sciarrone said the partnership continued to be very successful, with strong growth in its first 12 months.
The new partnerships have contributed to the growth of AIA Australia across its retail, group and direct businesses which for all of AIA Australia has been more than double that of the industry during the last 12 months with premium inflows growing at 33.0% vs market growth of 11.9%**.
“Based on the success of the netwealth partnership and the increased use of platforms by advisers, we expect to see similar results with the launch of Priority Protection on Personal Choice Private and look forward to working with advisers and practices via the private label platform to help grow their businesses,” she said.
AIA Australia makes new hire to support growth in platform and dealerships
The launch follows the appointment of Sam Tremethick to the newly created role of National Manager, Strategic Partnerships, as a dedicated resource for AIA Australia’s platform and dealership partners.
Ms Sciarrone said the establishment of the Strategic Partnerships team within Retail Distribution including David Tilley (National Dealership Manager) and Amy Mitchell (National Client and Dealership Development Manager) and Mr Tremethick was made to specifically service the platform and dealership space.
“We expect to see continued growth in the area of platforms as advisers demand solutions which are going to free them of administrative hassle and enable them to focus on providing financial and risk advice,” Ms Sciarrone concluded.