Chris Powell

Australian life insurer, Integrity Life (Integrity) has warned the high cost of living in the latest CPI data, which, recorded an overall year on year increase from December 2018 – December 2019, may have particularly harmful consequences for underinsured Australians.

The rising cost of living is disproportionately driven by the costs of the most important, life impacting areas such as health. While purchases of luxuries such as international travel, entertainment and clothes have actually become cheaper, health costs have increased by close to 200 per cent since 2000.

At the same time, the rising cost of living means Australians are more likely to forego emergency protection products such as life and health insurance.

Integrity Life MD Chris Powell said: “The latest CPI data shows Australians are facing higher health bills. But the overall rising cost of living means they are less likely to have the very products, such as life or health insurance, that can help pay those bills. The potential impact could really set people back, which is why we’re urging Australians to check whether they are adequately insured.”

Australia’s rate of underinsurance is already high. Integrity research^[1] show 45 per cent of Australians believe they don’t have life insurance in place to meet the often enormous costs of a disaster such as a funeral or medical care, or to support the cost of living.

Youth and super option make life insurance more affordable

“Australians must understand how important life insurance can be in minimising their rising, potentially massive out-of-pocket expenses” said Chris.

According to Deloitte research[2], “life priorities for millennials and Gen Z include building their career, buying their own home, and starting a family. Life insurance provides security for these important elements of life, if the worst happens” said Chris.

Younger Australians and those around the peak of their career can take advantage of significantly lower premiums for life and total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance. For a 40-year-old man, finder.com.au research shows that, based on entry-level premiums, life insurance for $200,000 costs about $4.41 per week, but more than doubles to $10.65 at age 50 and rockets to $31.14 at 60. Women pay significantly less, with the average 40-year-old paying $2.81 per week. Even a 60-year-old woman pays just $16.30 per week, just over half that of the equivalent man.^[3]

The majority of Australians also have some life and TPD insurance provided through their superannuation. “All Australians should remember they can pay for life insurance within your superannuation. Most of us are granted an automatic level of cover when we open a superannuation account, and this can be an effective way to pay for cover,” said Chris.

“However, changes to insurance inside super in 2019 mean that some people may have had their insurance removed. If you rely on insurance inside super, check your cover or contact your super fund to make sure you have an adequate level of cover to meet your needs. You should also think about speaking to a professional risk adviser”.

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Chris Powell

Australian life insurer, Integrity Life (Integrity) this week launched a lifetime discount offer, a move that it says strongly aligns with the best interests of advisers and consumers. Integrity has announced an 8% discount for the lifetime of a policy across its lump sum products (Life, Critical Illness and TPD). A move it says is designed to ensure sustainable pricing for its life insurance products.

Commenting on the offer, Integrity Life MD Chris Powell said, “The financial services Royal Commission highlighted that the customer’s interests must come first, and products must be appropriate to their needs. This simple principle is something that businesses such as ours are seeking to address, and to play a valuable role in the evolution of our industry towards this mindset.

He continued, “As an insurer with a completely blank canvas, we are in the fortunate position of being able to play a role in building a more sustainable life insurance industry. When thinking about the best way to price our products, we made the deliberate decision to ensure they are all priced individually and sustainably. We believe this transparency in pricing will help advisers build trust and loyalty with their clients.”

The decision to only provide discounts on lump sum products is aligned with regulator and industry concerns about the sustainability of Income Protection (IP).

Chris added, “Current discounts, particularly upfront short-term discounts on IP, are unsustainable and are contributing to ongoing losses among insurers. Because of the importance of IP as a lead component of ‘packages’ it is always tempting to price it as a ‘loss leader’. However, pricing in this way does not align with Integrity’s philosophy of promoting on-going sustainable pricing, nor does it benefit the insurer, the adviser or the customer in the long run.”

Integrity’s offer of 8% off is on the standard premium each year for the life of the policy. The offer is valid for new business quoted and submitted from 15 September 2019 to 31 December 2019. Applications must be inclusive of two or more different covers, with the discount applied to lump sum covers (Life, Critical Illness or TPD) only.

Chris concluded, “Our product team asked themselves, ‘how would you price life insurance for today?’ and worked closely with advisers to develop this new proposition. We trust that our adviser partners will be excited by this new proposition and the broader changes it represents for the life insurance industry.”

Chris Powell

The failure of people to take out adequate life, income protection and TPD insurance is driving a boom in online crowdfunding websites according to new research from Integrity Life (Integrity).  

Integrity’s research found that Australians are stepping in to bail out those without adequate cover: 35% of respondents said they have donated following the death, illness or accident of someone they may or may not know. In the nationwide poll of 1,000 people, the results showed that more than one in five Australians has donated to a fundraising campaign to help others who are left unable to meet financial outgoings after the death of a loved one, and 24% have made a donation to a family to help with medical and living costs after a serious accident or illness. 

 Commenting on the research, Integrity Life MD Chris Powell said, “Crowdfunding has helped so many deserving people at difficult times. That said, we only hear about a very small number of campaigns that do well, and mostly because of the publicity surrounding truly heartbreaking scenarios. However, there are many more people who raise a very small amount.” 

Chris continued, “GoFundMe and crowd fundraising websites are not a contingency plan, nor are they a substitute for adequate insurance. They have an important role to play as a last resort for those who are genuinely in need.”

The poll found that fewer than four in ten Australians (38%) felt that they had enough life insurance to meet costs of a funeral and ongoing living costs if the primary earner passed away, or medical treatment or other costs if the primary earner suffered a permanent disability or illness rendering them unable to work.  

Chris continued, “Our research indicates that there are almost 11.5 million Australian adults who know they do not have enough life insurance in place to help them if the primary earner in their household lost the ability to support their family or worse still, their life. I expect the real figure would be even higher as people generally underestimate the financial impact of such a devastating event and the long-term effect on their life.”

In the last 10 years hundreds of fundraising platforms have sprung up around the world. Launched in 2008, GoFundMe is the largest of the social fundraising platforms and is considered to be the leader in memorial fundraising. An analysis of data by Integrity Life reveals that GoFundMe’s campaigns raise an average of $4,578 AUD* for those needing assistance after the death of a loved one. This includes campaigns asking for assistance with funeral expenses as well as meeting ongoing living costs. Medical emergency campaigns appear twice as often, but raise the same amount on average ($4,578). 

Chris concluded, “With underinsurance so endemic across life, TPD and income protection categories, GoFundMe and other crowd fundraising platforms have become both a first stop and a last resort. Unfortunately, most people don’t think they will ever need to call on life insurance but without it they’re forced to rely on the kindness and generosity of others and have their most private moments publicised.  Sadly, even then the success of the campaign depends on someone’s ability to tell their story and share with their network.

“Having adequate insurance will ensure people don’t end up in this precarious situation should the unthinkable happen. For those Australians unsure whether they have adequate level of cover, or who don’t currently have cover, it’s a good idea to speak with a professional risk adviser.”

Other key findings from the research

• The age group most likely to support fundraising for families in need was 18 to 24-year olds, where half of this group had donated to a campaign.
• Within this age group 35% had donated to a campaign following a death and 27% donated to assist a family cope with a serious accident or illness.
• Just 19% of those aged over 65 years had donated to help a family after a death, illness or accident.
• There was little variation across the age groups when asked whether they had adequate life insurance to meet the costs of their household’s primary earner losing their life or ability to support the family.
• Those aged 35-44 were most likely to say they had adequate insurance whereas those over 65 years were least likely (30%).

Chris concluded, “With underinsurance so endemic across life, TPD and income protection categories, GoFundMe and other crowd fundraising platforms have become both a first stop and a last resort. Unfortunately, most people don’t think they will ever need to call on life insurance but without it they’re forced to rely on the kindness and generosity of others and have their most private moments publicised.  Sadly, even then the success of the campaign depends on someone’s ability to tell their story and share with their network.

“Having adequate insurance will ensure people don’t end up in this precarious situation should the unthinkable happen. For those Australians unsure whether they have adequate level of cover, or who don’t currently have cover, it’s a good idea to speak with a professional risk adviser.”

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Chris Powell

The failure of people to take out adequate life, income protection and TPD insurance is driving a boom in online crowdfunding websites according to new research from Integrity Life (Integrity).  

Integrity’s research found that Australians are stepping in to bail out those without adequate cover: 35% of respondents said they have donated following the death, illness or accident of someone they may or may not know. In the nationwide poll of 1,000 people, the results showed that more than one in five Australians has donated to a fundraising campaign to help others who are left unable to meet financial outgoings after the death of a loved one, and 24% have made a donation to a family to help with medical and living costs after a serious accident or illness. 

 Commenting on the research, Integrity Life MD Chris Powell said, “Crowdfunding has helped so many deserving people at difficult times. That said, we only hear about a very small number of campaigns that do well, and mostly because of the publicity surrounding truly heartbreaking scenarios. However, there are many more people who raise a very small amount.” 

Chris continued, “GoFundMe and crowd fundraising websites are not a contingency plan, nor are they a substitute for adequate insurance. They have an important role to play as a last resort for those who are genuinely in need.”

The poll found that fewer than four in ten Australians (38%) felt that they had enough life insurance to meet costs of a funeral and ongoing living costs if the primary earner passed away, or medical treatment or other costs if the primary earner suffered a permanent disability or illness rendering them unable to work.  

Chris continued, “Our research indicates that there are almost 11.5 million Australian adults who know they do not have enough life insurance in place to help them if the primary earner in their household lost the ability to support their family or worse still, their life. I expect the real figure would be even higher as people generally underestimate the financial impact of such a devastating event and the long-term effect on their life.”

In the last 10 years hundreds of fundraising platforms have sprung up around the world. Launched in 2008, GoFundMe is the largest of the social fundraising platforms and is considered to be the leader in memorial fundraising. An analysis of data by Integrity Life reveals that GoFundMe’s campaigns raise an average of $4,578 AUD* for those needing assistance after the death of a loved one. This includes campaigns asking for assistance with funeral expenses as well as meeting ongoing living costs. Medical emergency campaigns appear twice as often, but raise the same amount on average ($4,578). 

Chris concluded, “With underinsurance so endemic across life, TPD and income protection categories, GoFundMe and other crowd fundraising platforms have become both a first stop and a last resort. Unfortunately, most people don’t think they will ever need to call on life insurance but without it they’re forced to rely on the kindness and generosity of others and have their most private moments publicised.  Sadly, even then the success of the campaign depends on someone’s ability to tell their story and share with their network.

“Having adequate insurance will ensure people don’t end up in this precarious situation should the unthinkable happen. For those Australians unsure whether they have adequate level of cover, or who don’t currently have cover, it’s a good idea to speak with a professional risk adviser.”

Other key findings from the research

• The age group most likely to support fundraising for families in need was 18 to 24-year olds, where half of this group had donated to a campaign.
• Within this age group 35% had donated to a campaign following a death and 27% donated to assist a family cope with a serious accident or illness.
• Just 19% of those aged over 65 years had donated to help a family after a death, illness or accident.
• There was little variation across the age groups when asked whether they had adequate life insurance to meet the costs of their household’s primary earner losing their life or ability to support the family.
• Those aged 35-44 were most likely to say they had adequate insurance whereas those over 65 years were least likely (30%).

Chris concluded, “With underinsurance so endemic across life, TPD and income protection categories, GoFundMe and other crowd fundraising platforms have become both a first stop and a last resort. Unfortunately, most people don’t think they will ever need to call on life insurance but without it they’re forced to rely on the kindness and generosity of others and have their most private moments publicised.  Sadly, even then the success of the campaign depends on someone’s ability to tell their story and share with their network.

“Having adequate insurance will ensure people don’t end up in this precarious situation should the unthinkable happen. For those Australians unsure whether they have adequate level of cover, or who don’t currently have cover, it’s a good idea to speak with a professional risk adviser.”

The post Under-insured Aussies turn to crowdfunding in hard times appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Chris Powell

Australians would rather talk to their partner about past relationships than address how they would manage their finances in the event of death or disability. These are the findings of recent research from Integrity Life (Integrity)^[1], a new life insurance company that is urging Australians to consider the financial implications of their mortality.

Integrity polled more than 1,000 people and found the top three taboo topics for Australians were: sharing opinions about their partner’s friends, voicing opinions about relatives and discussing what would happen financially if one of them were to die.

Integrity Life MD, Chris Powell, commented, “There are plenty of topics that make for uncomfortable dinner time conversation, including opinions on your partner’s family and friends. However, discussing what would happen to your loved ones should you or your partner die is one topic that’s repeatedly seen as too hard to approach yet is arguably more important. Financial planning for the unthinkable is vital for ensuring the future protection of your dependents, and this is why I am passionate about starting a conversation on the topic.”

Table 1:  Australia’s top 10 taboo topics

Perhaps surprisingly, the research found that discomfort levels, were, across the board, highest amongst younger people. Of Australians aged between 25 and 34 years, conversations about money and death were the number one taboo: 46% said that this topic was a no-go area. This age group also rated sharing views on their partner’s friends (43%) and in-laws (40%) as more uncomfortable than other age groups.

The research found that across a wide range of taboos, older people were significantly more likely to discuss topics considered off-limits for their younger counterparts. Just 14% of over 65s felt that they couldn’t talk about sensitive medical issues with their partners compared to 37% of under 25s. Over 65s were also least uncomfortable with taboos around money after death with 23% reporting they wouldn’t discuss this topic with their partner.

Mr. Powell said “This no-holds barred bravery amongst older Australians should encourage younger people so they too can tackle these uneasy subjects with their partners. This can be as simple as setting an appointment with a professional risk adviser, and discussing your financial commitments now, then working out the type of cover you need for your life stage. The good news is Integrity has been built from the ground up to make taking action more straightforward and transparent for advisers and ultimately their clients.”

Integrity launched to the intermediated-retail market this month, following an intense co-creation process where the company worked with advisers to address the common frustrations in dealing with existing insurers. Mr Powell said Integrity will provide Australian life insurance customers with a better offering that meets people’s changing needs through providing greater fairness and transparency.

“Integrity means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. We have set ourselves a high benchmark with our name, and we are committed to exceeding it. This means we are working with financial advisers to provide all Australians with life insurance that provides them with protection when they need it most and uses straightforward medical definitions rather than jargon. As a technology-led insurer, we’re free from legacy system constraints, which means we’re able to offer policies that really do put the customer first,” concluded Mr Powell.

Chris Powell

Integrity Life continues to cement its position as a leader in product innovation and quality, announcing that it is now rated by and accessible to Advisers through IRESS.

In this release, IRESS rated Integrity 100 for Life, Critical Illness and TPD, and a rating of 98 for Income Insurance across non-super policies, combined with Integrity’s highly competitive pricing.

Integrity Life MD, Chris Powell, commented: “We are delighted to now be available on IRESS, continuing our commitment to providing solutions that are in line with the needs of advisers and their clients. Our focus has been on taking out the parts that complicate life insurance products and our IRESS ratings reflect the benefits of a simplified, fully featured product. As insurance continues to play an important role in advisers’ business, we remain focused on making our products transparent and easy for advisers and their customers to understand.”

IRESS is one of the leading suppliers of innovative technology solutions for the financial markets, wealth management and mortgage sectors and is used by approximately 75% of Australian advisers.

Louie Dimovski, Head of Wealth Management Research Services at IRESS said: “Integrity Life have clearly stated their intention to provide consumers with flexible and relevant benefit insurance coverage designed to best fit a multitude of protection scenarios.”

Following an intense co-creation process with advisers, Integrity launched to the intermediated retail market in March and completed a round of product and technology enhancements in April as the company continues to improve the products and services offered to advisers and clients.

Chris Powell concluded: “Integrity continues to act in the best interests of consumers, and we are always looking for ways to best serve our customers. As a new entrant, we have the ability to be nimble and continually enhance and improve. We are excited to continue our work with financial advisers to provide Australians with a suite of products that help them when they need it most.”

Chris Powell

Australia’s newest life insurance company, Integrity Life, has announced nine enhancements to its products as part of its latest technology release.  The product and technology enhancements are available with immediate effect, bringing benefits to both advisers and their clients.

Integrity Life MD, Chris Powell, commented, “When we launched to the retail market a few weeks ago we talked about our ability to be nimble, and the continual process of enhancing and improving the products and services we offer advisers and their clients. Being unconstrained by legacy systems and making full use of the best technology available means our focus can be on continual improvement.  We are delighted to be already demonstrating our commitment to providing innovative tailored insurance solutions that are in line with the needs of advisers and their clients.”

Product and technology enhancements:

• Clients now have the choice of ownership types, including within super, allowing them to split and combine covers across Personal, Business, SMSF and Super and to take advantage of the 15% rebate on premiums.
• Clients can also select a two-year waiting period for income insurance which has the effect of reducing their premium.
• A new Critical Illness Relapse option providing extra peace of mind when purchasing Critical Illness policies, allowing the cover to be reset after 12 months with the potential for additional benefits on the reset cover.
• To reward healthier lives, Integrity has introduced Life+ to offer reduced pricing for the life of the policy, of the where the life insured has a BMI of between 18 and 25, has never smoked and has no conditions which may result in a loading. Integrity believes this will apply to 30% of new applications.
• Integrity will now waive the premium for its Care Support Package when three covers are selected for the life insured and minimum sums insured are met.
• New portal and system enhancements will allow ownership to align with their advised strategy.
• Advisers will be able to nominate another adviser to split their commission with, if for example, they partnered together or received a joint referral.

Integrity launched to the retail adviser market in early March 2019 after an intense co-creation process where the company worked with advisers to address the common frustrations in dealing with existing insurers.

In conclusion, Mr Powell reiterated Integrity’s commitment to its customers.

“Integrity’s business DNA involves always focusing on our customers and ensuring we provide them with the best possible experience in every situation. This means that we constantly innovate on our products, systems and services and we will release upgrades to these on a regular basis in order to ensure we stay ahead of the pack. This involves listening to our customers, learning from them and then acting upon what we have learnt – and repeating the process.

“Integrity means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. It also means acting in the best interest of consumers and always looking for ways to serve our customers better. We are working with financial advisers to provide all Australians with life insurance that helps them when they need it most and all our changes are made with this goal in sight,” said Mr Powell.

Liz Dzelmanis and Amie Pachos have joined Integrity’s Sydney distribution team as Business Development Managers and will play a key role in establishing relationships with advisers and helping them help their clients through innovative products and policies.

Liz has more than 15 years’ experience in the insurance and superannuation industries and joins from ANZ OnePath where she was a BDM in the Retail Life Risk team. Liz has also held positions with MBF (BUPA), AIA, AMP and CommInsure. Amie joined Integrity following four years with CommInsure as a BDM and a further five with AMP across a number of areas of the business.

In January, Tom Cincotta was hired as the Regional Distribution Manager for Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. Tom is now expanding his team with the hires of Voula Makris and Alicia Faour.

Voula has over 25 years’ experience in Financial Services, across customer service, financial planning and sales and joins after a successful 13-year tenure with CommInsure. Alicia joins from ANZ One Path where she also held a Life Insurance BDM role. Both started on 1^st April, and will be responsible for the continuing to strengthen Integrity’s Melbourne Business.

Josh Lawrence will join Integrity’s established group business on 15^th April as a National BDM, responsible for continuing Integrity Life’s rapid growth across the Group market. He will work closely with Ashton Fernando, Integrity’s National Business Development Manager, focusing on the group market. Josh joins from AIA where he was a senior BDM, following a successful period with TAL in the Group Insurance Team.

Integrity Life MD, Chris Powell, commented, “When we launched to the retail market last month we talked about the importance of culture and getting the right people on board. Great corporate culture is based on doing the right thing by employees, customers and stakeholders and this starts with hiring the right people who are aligned with Integrity’s corporate values.

“We are delighted to welcome our new distribution team members who all share our core DNA – innovation and customer focus, as well as a commitment to people and culture. The fact that all of our team are passionate about exhibiting these qualities will ensure the ongoing success of our business,” said Chris.

Last month Integrity launched to the retail adviser market after an intense co-creation process where the company worked with advisers to address their common challenges and frustrations in relation to the life insurance industry.

Chris Powell

New life insurance company, Integrity Life (Integrity), has launched to the retail market. The launch follows Integrity’s successful pilot program, involving a pool of over 50 specialist risk-advisers, who helped co-create their new customer-focused life insurance proposition. The new proposition, which couples simplified value-for-money products with next generation technology, addresses the  evolving retail life insurance needs of Australians in the post-Royal Commission era.

Over the last nine months Integrity has worked with its adviser partners to develop tailored insurance solutions focusing on innovation through new technology and better customer experience for both advisers and their clients. The new technology frees advisers from the legacy constraints found elsewhere in the market, offers robust medical definitions, a personalised claims process and a life insurance experience that is respectful, transparent and fair. 

Integrity Life MD, Chris Powell, commented, “Integrity means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. We have set ourselves a high benchmark with our name, and we are committed to exceeding it. We will work with financial advisers to empower them to provide all Australians retail life insurance that delivers the best possible protection, straightforward medical definitions, and is free from the systemic problems that exist within legacy providers.”

The co-creation pilot was the first of its kind in the industry. It saw Integrity’s team working closely with advisers to understand then address their top frustrations when working with life insurers. Integrity today shared some of the key challenges, which included a lack of transparency on product and price, opaqueness around product features, ancillary benefits and calculation of premiums, duplication of information in the application process, inefficiencies in navigating application forms and wasted time whenever the adviser needed to make changes to the application.

In response to these issues, the new Integrity products have a clear modular design, new systems allow advisers to quote with upfront certainty of price and outcome by using an integrated quote and pre-assessment tool on a platform that gives advisers access to client details anytime, anywhere and on any device, 24/7.   Just like other typical successful on-line businesses, the Integrity shopping cart shows both advisers and their clients the premium breakdown of optional add-ons, loadings, exclusions, discounts and monthly or yearly premiums.  The platform also allows integration of information and highly customised communications driven by advisers choosing their preference.

Chris continued, “We worked through a list of top adviser pain points to build Integrity from the ground up. We heard from advisers that they want simplified processes and products, responsiveness, and value-for-money pricing. For example, using our integrated quote and pre-assessment tool allows advisers to immediately see if a clients’ health conditions or pastimes result in a loading or exclusion and how these may impact their premiums.   Our interface is clean and easy to navigate and designed to be intuitive, requiring advisers to only ever input client information once and in any order. We are delivering on these adviser requests to make selecting life insurance more straightforward and transparent for the adviser and, ultimately, their clients.”

Integrity has its headquarters in Pyrmont and already employs more than 70 people across customer care, underwriting, claims, product development, distribution, IT, customer experience, finance marketing.  “This means we are a full service, full capability life insurer” Chris said.

The launch to the retail market follows the successful roll-out in 2018 to the Group market after Integrity Group Holdings Ltd acquired QBE Life, with lead investors Leadenhall Capital Partners and Daido Life.

Chris concluded, “Our industry has suffered setbacks and we want advisers and their clients to start to believe in life insurance again. The Banking Royal Commission has clearly set out the 6 behavioural norms that it wants built in the culture of every participant in Financial Services in Australia. In this regard, Integrity is a good news story as we are the type of values and principles based organization that the Royal Commission is wanting to see. This really is a new era and Integrity will help advisers and their clients to feel confident that their life insurance will deliver when they need it most.”

Chris Powell

According to Integrity Life MD, Chris Powell, the recommendations in the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry will herald some positive changes for life insurance customers, and come at a time where the industry is already undergoing a shift in its models.

“There has never been a greater need to bring integrity back to the forefront of the life insurance industry – so that advisers and policyholders can believe in life insurance again – that’s the fundamental aim of Integrity Life, and so we welcome measures that help improve commercial morality across all aspects of the industry.

“We welcome any measure that improves the financial services industry and ensures customers are treated with the fairness and respect they deserve.  If we define integrity as ‘doing the right thing, even when no one is watching’ then it is clear that many of the issues brought to light by the Royal Commission point strongly to business cultures that failed that test. Inappropriate practices such as “hawking insurance” via high pressure phone sales are an example of where insurers and distributors have ignored the need to act with integrity. We also welcome the inclusion of funeral insurance policies as financial products.”

Corporate governance

“We believe that the Commissioner’s recommendations on changing the corporate cultures that have developed over years, if not decades, in our large financial institutions, are a reflection of broader change that has already started in the industry. But it’s going to be an enormous task for their boards and senior management teams. As a new life insurer with a clear vision and free of constraining legacy systems, Integrity is in a strong position to ensure our key business principles and values form the foundations of our culture right from the start.”

How Integrity will work with advisers

“The recommendations of the Royal Commission will fundamentally change advisers’ business models going forward. Integrity Life will be committed to working with advisers to effect these changes and help them build sustainable businesses. We are already working with advisers to help them demonstrate the value that professional life insurance advice brings to Australians.”

Julie will be responsible for building Integrity’s retail business in NSW, the ACT and QLD, while Cornell will oversee financial operations across the business.

Managing Director Chris Powell said that Integrity continues to recruit talented individuals with excellent reputations in the sector.

“During my eight years as CFO at Zurich, Julie built an outstanding reputation for herself, so I’m delighted to welcome her to the team at Integrity Life. With her decades of experience, she brings extensive sector knowledge and adviser relationships to the newly-created role of Regional Manager, and will work with advisers in three states, to help them deliver customised life insurance solutions, suitable for all Australians.”

Julie has 30 years’ experience in the life insurance industry, including seven years at CommInsure – growing the business in NSW and the ACT – as well as 11 years at Zurich, where she was most recently Regional Manager for NSW/ACT. Julie has also held senior roles with Lumley Life and Tyndall Australia. For the past 12 years, Julie has held the position of state chair for the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) NSW State Committee.

Commenting on her new role, Julie said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the talented team at Integrity – a collection of like-minded individuals whom I respect. What really resonates with me is the idea that Integrity has been established with the goal of bringing integrity back to products, to services and to client-relationships. I’m excited to have this opportunity to meet the growing appetite of advisers and end-customers alike for a next-generation product. And it’s great to be working with Chris again.”

Integrity also announced the appointment of Cornell Hoffman, reporting to CFO Lesley Mamelok, Cornell brings two decades of experience in the financial services sector to this position. He joins Integrity from TAL, where he held the role of head of change finance, and prior to this worked at Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and Zurich. Welcoming Cornell to the team, Chris said:

“Joining our finance team, Cornell brings strong technical skills and a deep understanding of the life insurance sector, including the design and implementation of insurance systems. Importantly, both Julie and Cornell share our commitment to transparency, simplicity and innovation in life insurance.”

The appointments follow the recent hire of William Rogers, also formerly of CommInsure, to the role of Head of Retail Product.

Integrity will launch its retail product early next year. It already offers group insurance, and is currently conducting the pilot of its retail products and proprietary systems which were developed in conjunction with some of Australia’s most respected advisers and their clients.

Chris said: “As we draw closer to our retail launch, we are significantly bolstering our retail team. Importantly, alongside exceptional knowledge of life insurance and very strong adviser relationships, our newest team members share the desire to provide life insurance that sets the benchmark for the industry. Across retail and group life insurance, our teams are totally committed to acting in the best interests of our customers – to helping our them when they need help most.”