Head of Wealth Markets, Alexandra Tullio, announced the appointments as part of what will be the continuing evolution of the new Bendigo Wealth division which was launched in April 2011, heralding an exciting new era in the evolution of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Group.

The new Bendigo Wealth division has been warmly received in the IFA market place and is playing an increasingly important role in helping our distribution partners meet the needs of their clients.

Part of this new focus has been to generate awareness of the broader banking and wealth solutions that the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Group have on offer to the IFA market.

The new Bendigo Wealth division is fortunate in that there is a broad range of skills and resources across the Group from which to draw. “These new appointments are effective as of Monday 20 June and are pivotal in enabling the Distribution, Business Development and Manufacturing areas to deliver on expectations within the Bendigo Wealth division ”, Ms Tullio said.

New Regional Managers:

• Richard Brown, Regional Manager, WA/SA/VIC/TAS/NT. Richard joined the Bank in November 2006 in the role of National Sales Manager, WealthDeposits. For the past four years Richard has held the position of State Sales Manager, SA/NT – Wealth Distribution. Prior to joining the Bank, Richard worked in a variety of sales management, recruitment and operational roles with Hillross Financial, Colonial, Prudential, AMP and Hudson Global.
• Keith Hilsdon, Regional Manager, QLD/NSW/ACT. Keith has held manydiverse roles during his 27 years within the financial services industry,bringing funds management, financial markets, business strategy, credit assessment, training, business and retail banking experience to his role.

New Manufacturing roles:

• Darryl Drown, Senior Manager, Bendigo Wealth Manufacturing
• Gillian Carless, Senior Manager – Manufacturing.
• Julie McKay, Senior Manager – Technical and Research

New Business Development roles:

• Nick Jackson, Senior Business Development Manager (SBDM) in NewSouth Wales
• Nicola Thiel, Senior Business Development Manager (SBDM) in WesternAustralia

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According to Rice Warner Actuaries’ latest Direct Life Insurance Report, Australia’s direct life market has experienced growth over the past year that has seen it ‘come of age’.

The report reveals a dramatically changing landscape that features new, more sophisticated marketing, wider public acceptance, multi-channel distribution and an increasingly accepted online sales mode.

Richard Weatherhead, Director and Head of Life Insurance of Rice Warner Actuaries, believes the growing market is due to a shift in mindset from major insurers.

“The number of direct life insurance products sold in Australia has increased from 109 in 2008 to 164 today, an increase of 50 per cent in three years,” said Mr. Weatherhead.

“Major insurers have been devoting significant resources to direct distribution and direct life business over the past year, because they are viewing it as an integral part of most business planning rather than being a ‘blue sky’ venture.”

Today, direct life insurance constitutes around 17.8 per cent of overall risk insurance sales and 11.8 per cent of in-force business. Overall, from 2009 to 2010, sales were up 3.3 per cent to $403.1 million and in-force annual premiums increased by 9.7 per cent to $1,108.5 million as at 31^st December 2010.

While many factors can affect direct sales, the report has credited increasingly sophisticated target marketing and a focus on cross selling and up-selling to existing customers as being major drivers.

Despite the increase in sales and in-force premiums, there was a slight (0.2 per cent) decrease in mortgage and loan risk insurance. According to Mr. Weatherhead, this is a result of a general downturn in housing and a tightening of credit policies among home lenders.

“Mortgage and loan risk insurance is down, reflecting the slowdown in the housing market, the tightening of rules for loan approvals and rises in interest rates that made insurance less affordable in relation to borrowers’ overall budgets,” said Mr. Weatherhead.

Several emerging trends, outlined in the report, will continue to reshape the market over the next few years. In particular, the big marketing push through TV, which is leading to greater uptake and more widespread acceptance of the need for insurance, is closing the market to new players wanting to use that marketing method who may find it difficult to compete with substantial advertising spend of the well established competitors.
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“All distribution channels have seen significant growth in the past year, except direct mail and branch sales, the latter reflecting the downturn in the mortgage market,” said Mr. Weatherhead.
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“Particularly, we’ve seen increasing acceptance of the new online model. We know a high proportion of customers research products online before buying and over the past twelve months this has began to translate into real online sales, with $44 million of sales either online or as a result of a telephone call triggered by an online enquiry.”
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Mr. Weatherhead believes that the many challenges and changes facing the direct life insurance market over the next few years will lead to further evolution of the industry.
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“Life companies will be looking increasingly to customer engagement rather than sales as various segments of the market become saturated,” said Mr. Weatherhead.
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“Despite concerns arising from FoFA and some general views to the contrary, we consider that the move to direct represents a real opportunity for advisers to build new revenue streams via ‘no advice’ offers on the practice or dealer group website.”
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For more information on the report, click to view the Rice Warner Actuaries website

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Craig Lawrenson, Head of Asgard, today announced the promotion of Darren Whereat to Head of Distribution following a review of Asgard’s sales and business support teams.

Darren was promoted to the role after 2 years as Asgard’s Head of Institutional Business and Key Accounts. Darren will be responsible for management and achievement of the distribution strategy including a focus on stronger relationships with key partners and growing Asgard’s Private Label business.

Mr Lawrenson said Darren will lead a strengthened distribution team that includes a state manager for each mainland state and consolidates the previous Institutional Business Services and Key Accounts & Distribution businesses.

“The new Asgard distribution model ensures the team is clearly accountable for all sales and business activities, enabling Asgard to provide an even better service to our advisers,” Mr Lawrenson said.

“Asgard has a strong base of product development – with plenty more in the pipeline – and Darren’s team will ensure all advisers can take advantage of the development program as it is rolled out.”

Mr Whereat also announced the appointment of Tim North Ash as National Manager – Key Accounts,  Institutional and NSW Sales.

“Tim joins us from BT Wrap where he was responsible for leading a team that manages their key national accounts. He will be a fantastic addition to the Asgard business and bring new ideas and proven leadership to the way we execute our Key Account strategies.”

Mr Whereat added he was pleased with the broadened role and expanded team and excited about Asgard’s direction.

“Platforms need the scale and resources to respond to changing needs. Asgard’s offering makes it a compelling proposition in the marketplace and our team will ensure our focus is on delivering on that
offer,” he said.

“We want to support advisers deliver on their true value proposition, which is about providing strategic advice.”

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