Gerard Kerr

Acenda is reimagining life insurance with an innovative underwriting solution that provides quicker, more streamlined access to cover for Australians.

In an industry-first partnership with UnderwriteMe, medical evidence, including doctors’ reports and blood test results, can now be assessed by Acenda’s underwriting engine, enabling faster approvals for cover.

The collaboration with UnderwriteMe follows Acenda’s award-winning partnership with EQ Pathology. Through this partnership, Acenda has streamlined the underwriting process for doctors by replacing traditional paperwork with digital Personal Medical Attendant Reports (PMARs), pathology reports and medical exam results.

Acenda’s new underwriting initiative with UnderwriteMe completes this process with Australia’s first end to end digital solution in the life insurance industry.

Jane Murray, Chief Operating Officer, who leads Acenda’s underwriting function, said: “Acenda’s partnership with UnderwriteMe is an industry first innovation that transforms the collection and processing of medical information.

“In a groundbreaking initiative, the underwriting process will be fully digitised creating a capability where automated underwriting decisions can occur where medical evidence is required. This will create a seamless experience for customers.”

Gerard Kerr, Acenda’s Chief Executive Individual Business, said: “It is part of Acenda’s commitment to innovation, along with creating speed in our decisions to support our adviser partners and customers, as one of Australia’s leading life insurers.”

Paul Hughes, Chief Revenue and Customer Officer for UnderwriteMe, said: “UnderwriteMe have been proud supporters of Acenda for several years in the Australian market, and this latest innovation is a game changer.

“By leveraging technology to solve critical challenges in secondary evidence underwriting, Acenda are making it easier for Australians to obtain their cover in a swifter and smoother way.  We are delighted to have collaborated with Acenda and EQ Pathology in delivering this exciting, industry first innovation.”

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Acenda was a finalist in nine of the 10 award categories and won the Leadership Award, Claims Team Award, Customer Service Team Award and Partnership Impact Team Award.

Mary Magallanes, General Manager Claims Management for Acenda, was awarded the prestigious Leadership Award, recognising her outstanding contribution to life insurance and commitment to customer focused innovation.

Acenda received the Claims Team Award for the third consecutive year for TPD Express, a new customer-first approach that’s transformed the Total and Permanent Disability claims experience.

TPD Express fast tracks claims for people with severe health conditions and has resulted in eligible claims now being paid and settled in just 17 working days, down from 105 – an 84% improvement.

Acenda won the Customer Service Team Award for KickStart, an early intervention program that provides customers with personal support and tailored rehabilitation plans within 24 hours of a referral to help them recover from illness or injury.

Andrew Beevors, Chief Claims and Transformation Officer for Acenda, said: “The ALUCA awards are extremely competitive and it’s great to see Acenda and our people recognised for delivering meaningful programs supporting outcomes for our customers and partners.

“These awards represent the end-to-end value chain of life insurance from leadership, underwriting and claims. They also reflect Acenda’s ongoing commitment to put the customer at the heart of everything we do.”

Acenda also received the Partnership Impact Team Award for its partnership with EQ Pathology. The partnership delivers Australians faster life insurance, by allowing doctors to provide medical information through smart, digital questionnaires instead of submitting PDF forms.

Jane Murray, Chief Operating Officer for Acenda, said: “It’s fantastic to see this industry-first initiative delivered by our team, recognised with this award. I congratulate all of our people for what they continue to do to put customers first.”

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• Claims Team of the Year Award – Retail and Group Claims Management Team
• Customer Service Team of the Year Award – Retail and Group Mental Health Claims Team
• Partnership Impact Team of the Year Award – Recovery and Wellness
• Life Insurance Excellence Leadership Award – Darren Leonard, Northern Underwriting Manager NSW/QLD

“The annual ALUCA awards are extremely competitive and receive a high number of exceptional entries all of which are judged by cross-industry leaders and senior life insurance professionals,” said Amanda McKernan, Chief Executive Officer for ALUCA. “We’re extremely proud of all the deserving winners, who’ve demonstrated excellence in life insurance, going over and above to achieve outstanding outcomes for their customers and partners.”

Having last year taken home Claims Team of the Year for its Fast Track Straight Through Processing Initiative, MLC Life Insurance this year went back-to-back for this highly coveted award, winning the accolade for its Income Protection Analytics Model, which improves customer and partner experience by augmenting the ability for claims teams to accurately forecast claim durations from lodgement and ensure the right support is provided at the right time, assisting customers through every step of their claims journey.

“This groundbreaking tool empowers our people by harnessing advanced data analysis techniques to improve our claims process and the total customer and partner experience,” said Andrew Beevors, Chief Claims Officer for MLC Life Insurance. “In many ways, it’s also an important litmus test for the industry as we’ve clearly shown new innovations and digital solutions can be used effectively to serve strategic goals and build customer trust by elevating their end-to-end experience.”

MLC Life also picked up the Customer Service Team of the Year Award, for its claim lodgement support program, a customer-centric process that leverages the principles of early intervention to support customers with a mental health condition who are lodging a claim by simplifying the lodgement process and offering early allied health support for its most vulnerable customers.

“With 100% of customers saying they felt supported by our claim lodgement support system, it’s welcome recognition for our teams that are dedicated to delivering our best-in-claims experience, because we know that making a claim is when our promise for life matters most to our customers,” said Andrew Beevors. “Our ‘here for you’ claims philosophy means offering a personalised, empathetic and efficient response.”

“We were also grateful to take home the Partnership Impact Award, recognising our collaboration with Wysa and Swiss Re, as the first Australian life insurer to offer our customers a world-leading digital mental health app, incorporating scores to promote holistic healthy living and improve mental wellbeing, as well as an anonymous conversational AI chatbot,” said Andrew Beevors. “Featuring regular check-ins, bespoke assessments and a library of self-care tools built by experts, the app seamlessly integrates into our award-winning Vivo health, wellness, and recovery support network.”

ALUCA also awarded the prestigious Life Insurance Excellence Leadership Award to MLC Life’s Darren Leonard, recognising his genuine care and expertise in driving strong outcomes for customers and partners.

“Operational excellence is one of the ways we put customers at the centre of our business, and investing in our people is a key part of delivering on that,” said Jane Murray, Chief Operating Officer for MLC Life Insurance, “that’s why it’s so terrific to see our people recognised through these important industry awards.”

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The appointment follows a recent announcement where Jane Murray was appointed to the dedicated role of Chief Operating Officer, and the appointment of Craig Dainton as General Manager Adviser and Customer Operations in Jane’s team in May.  The team have been brought together to oversee the significant body of work being undertaken by the business to further improve the systems, processes and industry-leading technology needed to offer an even better experience for advisers and customers, as well as superannuation funds, trustees and their members.

“Ian is a deeply experienced customer excellence specialist,” said Jane Murray, Chief Operating Officer for MLC Life Insurance, “and he’s driven successful delivery of several very large total customer experience related programs over the last decade, including with AMP, Telstra and most recently the Commonwealth Bank’s $1 billion customer service remediation program.”

Reporting to the COO, this role will be responsible for the delivery of all streams of work relating to MLC Life Insurance’s $32 million Accelerate customer experience uplift program, central to providing even better service outcomes for customers.

“Continuously improving the service experience for our customers is the top priority for MLC Life Insurance, and Ian will play an integral role in enhancing the customer experience and reviewing our touchpoints with customers and partners to make sure we can do even better as we continue to grow our business.”

“Over the last six months we’ve already seen a more than 10% reduction in call handling times for customers and advisers, along with an improvement in administration turnaround times across our customer measures.”

“Ian understands process excellence, having led large programs with significant investment in maximising the enhancement of customer processes and outcomes.”

Speaking of his appointment, Ian said, “MLC Life Insurance is one of Australia’s leading and most trusted insurers, and I’m excited to continue that tradition and to review and revise the processes and systems needed to deliver an even better total customer experience.”

Ian holds a Bachelor of Science from Monash University and attained Master Project Director with the Australian Institute of Project Management.

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The appointment of Jane Murray to the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO) and the appointment of Kristin Miller to the role of Chief People Officer (CPO) are part of our focus on service delivery and experience through operational excellence and development of an organisational culture that empowers employees to deliver for customers and partners.

“Delivering for our customers and partners is the single most important thing we do,” said Kent Griffin, Chief Executive Officer of MLC Life Insurance, “and appointing Kristin and Jane to these roles continues our journey to delivering an enhanced total customer experience at MLC Life Insurance.”

“Jane Murray has already achieved so much as part of the MLC Life Insurance Leadership Team, and she’s well-placed to deliver on the significant body of work we’re undertaking to further improve systems, processes and industry-leading technology we need to offer an even better experience for advisers and customers, as well as super funds, trustees and their members,” said Kent Griffin.

Jane Murray joined MLC Life Insurance three years ago, having previously held senior roles in companies like AXA, AMP and Victorian Funds Management, and in that time has led transformational change for the business.

“Continuously improving our operational experience for our customers and striving for operational excellence is a crucial strategic objective for MLC Life Insurance.  I’m looking forward to continuing that work to support great service experiences for our customers and partners,” said Jane Murray, Chief Operating Officer, “I’m excited to be joined by Kristin as we work together to empower our people to deliver for the business.”

Kristin is a seasoned people function leader with extensive experience in financial services across Australia and Asia, having held senior roles at Macquarie Bank, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock. Most recently, she has served as Group Executive – People & Culture at Cbus where she gained executive experience running one of Australia’s largest industry superannuation funds.

“The appointment of Kristin as CPO enables her to leverage her experience as a highly skilled business partner,” said Kent Griffin, “with expertise in developing and implementing commercial and pragmatic people and talent strategies, together with an understanding of how to develop our culture to deliver an even better total customer experience.”

“Joining the business from one of Australia’s largest industry super funds means Kristin has significant experience in developing a people and culture strategy that delivers the organisational capability through which employees are able to serve the best financial interests of fund members.”

Speaking of her appointment, Kristin Miller, Chief People Officer said, “MLC Life Insurance is one of Australia’s leading and most trusted insurers, and I’m proud to continue that tradition by improving the business’s employee value proposition and working to build the capabilities of our leaders.”

“There’s an important link between the employee experience and the customer experience, and I know that happy and empowered employees are best placed to deliver for our customers.”

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Craig Dainton

MLC Life Insurance has appointed Craig Dainton as General Manager of Customer & Adviser Operations to deliver on the business’s deep commitment to operational excellence and an exceptional total customer experience.

Craig has extensive experience in financial services, having worked for HBA, National Mutual, AXA, and AMP, and most recently holding several senior roles in operations, finance, remediation and transformation at AMP, including as Deputy CFO.

“A seasoned and credible operational excellence professional with over 25 years’ experience, Craig’s appointment is the next step in building on our significant investment in a state-of-the-art, single unifying platform that provides the functionality to deliver on our streamlined customer-centric vision and deliver a better experience for our customers, advisers and partners,” said Jane Murray, Chief Operating and People Officer for MLC Life Insurance.

“This appointment connects our industry-leading technology with our commitment to put the customer at the centre of our business,” said Jane Murray. “Within his most recent experiences at AMP, Craig has led large operations and change teams and has an outstanding track record for delivery.”

“Aligned with his strong reputation as a values-based leader, Craig is passionate about developing great leaders with a ‘customer-first’ mindset,” she added, “and I’m confident Craig will make a great contribution leading this crucial part of our business, as we continue to focus on enhancing the total customer experience for our partners, customers, and advisers.”

Speaking of his appointment, Craig said, “MLC Life Insurance is one of Australia’s leading and most trusted insurers, and I’m proud to continue that tradition and to inspire our operations team to deliver an even better total customer experience.”

Craig holds a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern Queensland and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Craig will commence on Tuesday 16 May 2023.

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