John Ashton has been appointed Head of Retail Product, managing product strategy and strengthening the team’s senior experience. John has more than 30 years’ experience in the industry having worked across licensees, insurance, underwriting and product design for a range of players in the industry. Based in MetLife’s Melbourne office, John will lead the optimisation of MetLife Protect, tapping into adviser and client feedback – a hallmark of MetLife’s approach to the Retail market.

Also joining the team is Dave Evans, as Strategic Account Manager, focused on the licensee platform, as the sales team moves into the next stage of growth. Dave has over 20 years’ financial services sales experience and is based in the Brisbane office. With MetLife Protect continuing to gain traction among licensees, the Retail market is responding positively to the innovative and fresh approach MetLife has offered up. Dave will drive this next phase of growth for the business.

Matt Lippiatt, MetLife Head of Retail Sales, commenting on the announcements, highlighted the breadth of experience being added to the team: “We are delighted to welcome John and Dave to the business. They are both seasoned Retail insurance professionals who are well known to advisers and licensees alike.  Their deep experience will help us shape our offer and drive our engagement with the market as we continue to accelerate our growth.

“At a time of consolidation, MetLife is committed to backing advisers.  These appointments are one more example of that commitment.”

MetLife Protect is a modular life insurance product, launched in August 2018, which allows advisers to tailor policies to their clients individual needs and is flexible enough to change with them over time.

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The enhancements, which go live today, are being launched at a series of nation-wide roadshows for financial planners and apply to Flexible Lifetime – Protection, Flexible Lifetime – Super, Flexible Lifetime – Flexible Protection and AMP Elevate. 
 
AMP’s Head of Product On-sale for Retail Wealth Protection John Ashton said medical advances and new working practices are changing the way Australians live and AMP is improving its benefits to help cover more people when it counts.
 
“Through offering choice and flexibility, the suite of changes announced today will make it easier for planners to do business in tough markets,” Mr Ashton said.
 
People’s ability to save for retirement, even when they’re off work, will be boosted with clients now able to insure up to 15 per cent of their salary through a Super Contributions option.
 
Mr Ashton said this means people who contribute above the minimum default amount into their super will be able to get coverage for this through their income protection insurance.
 
To help people get back to work after illness or injury, AMP will now give people a bonus when they return to work.
 
Mr Ashton said AMP will pay people an additional benefit when they have received total or partial disability benefit and participated in an occupational rehabilitation program for at least three months to assist people with a return to work when they’re well enough.
 
Also announced today, AMP’s telephone underwriting service has been upgraded and opened up to all AMP Life insurance offers. 
 
Mr Ashton said AMP was the first to market with this service and its success for both planners and clients is clear with more than 50 per cent of applications using the service and, with this upgrade, we anticipate the usage to increase significantly.
 
“Now, no matter what AMP insurance a client applies for, they can access this important service that lets people complete their personal statement over the phone, at a time and place convenient to them with professional, experienced interviewers.
 
“AMP’s telephone underwriting provides a streamlined approach to completing the application form with the client and can mean quicker cover for clients while freeing up time for planners to focus on their core business.
 
“AMP has also enhanced the consolidated personal statement used within the Tele Personal Statement service which means that, for example, it’s possible for a lump sum insurance application to be completed in as little as 15 minutes. 
 
“The intuitive form expands with additional questions if more information is required, saving time during the application process.”
 
In response to Australia’s changing health practices, AMP’s trauma cover definitions have been updated. FLP’s heart attack and cancer definitions and Elevate’s cancer and major head injuries definitions have been enhanced, providing more comprehensive cover.
 
In line with the enhancements to the full payment definitions for cancer, partial payment definitions for melanoma have also been improved for both FLP and Elevate.
 
Other enhancements announced today include:
 
AMP Elevate 
AMP Elevate is one of the few insurance products that allows clients, via the PremierLink option, to split their income insurance plans in and out of super, for the best of both worlds – cost-effective premiums within super and quick access to full benefits outside super. 
 
PremierLink IP complements the existing PremierLink TPD and FlexiLink options which are also available via Elevate, providing flexible ownership structures across the full range of Elevate products.
 
AMP Elevate has increased the range of life events covered by the future insurability option.  This means that people can now increase their level of cover across more life events without the need for underwriting, such as when a child starts secondary school or when a student completes an undergraduate degree.
 
AMP Flexible Lifetime Protection  
AMP is automatically converting the Children’s Trauma option to Death Cover with linked trauma at age 16, without the need for underwriting.  Rather than converting to life cover only, children that have trauma cover linked to their parents insurance, will be eligible to continue their trauma cover and maintain this important protection.
 
Mr Ashton added: “Launching enhancements to AMP’s complete insurance range ensures both wealth protection product lines continue to offer flexibility, choice and competitiveness.”
 
The changes apply automatically for new clients as well as for clients who currently have insurance under these products.

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AMP’s Head of Product On-sale for Retail Wealth Protection John Ashton said changing work patterns, family structures and business practices, as well as ever improving medical care, means insurance solutions need to be continually updated to remain competitive.

“We know the importance planners and advisers place on making sure their clients’ insurance cover stays relevant and up-to-date, which is why we continually work on developing enhancements to our insurance offer,” Mr Ashton said.

“In a world where not every client will be getting married in the traditional sense, we’ve adjusted our Guaranteed Future Insurability (GFI) feature to allow de facto couples to increase their cover more easily.”

GFI is a feature that makes it easy to increase cover at key times in a person’s life, such as having or adopting a child and becoming a carer for the first time, without having to provide any evidence of health status.

AMP has also changed its eligibility criteria for FLP’s in-built GFI for Income Protection and Temporary Salary Continuance, which will allow more people to access this feature.

Mr Ashton said this valuable feature was previously only available to people with a clean bill of health but recognising that we live in a world where not everyone enjoys perfect health, we’re now pleased to be able to offer this benefit to a broader range of customers.

“Medical procedures and diagnostic tests are rapidly changing, so we’ve enhanced the trauma definitions in FLP of certain conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, lung disease and hypertension, to reflect current medical practices and ensure we are using the most up-to-date medical intelligence when making a claim assessment,” Mr Ashton said.

“Australia has one of the highest rates of skin melanoma in the world, so AMP has enhanced its trauma payment definition to cover early forms of melanoma which will enable many clients to receive valuable financial assistance at an earlier stage of diagnosis.”

AMP has also unveiled service enhancements to make it easier for people to get the cover they need and easier for advisers to do business with AMP.

Mr Ashton said AMP has updated its medical and financial underwriting requirements for FLP, including removing the need for accountants’ signatures on most financial questionnaires and removing specialist medical examinations from the mandatory medical requirements.

The enhancements, which are now live, apply to Flexible Lifetime – Protection, Flexible Lifetime – Super and Flexible Lifetime – Flexible Protection. The changes apply automatically for new clients as well as for clients who currently have insurance under these products.

Mr Ashton added: “AMP continues to support and invest in its two wealth protection product lines, Flexible Lifetime Protection and Elevate, to ensure they offer flexibility, choice and competitiveness.”

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