Runners up for the Life Company of the Year title were:

• AIA Australia
• MLC Life Insurance
• NEOS

AFA President Michael Nowak said, “We congratulate TAL on being awarded the title ‘2020 Life Company of the Year’ and also pay tribute to the runners up, and all the winners and finalists in other categories who have truly stepped up in an extraordinarily difficult environment. These companies have risen to meet the challenges presented by the current pandemic and continue to deliver superior products and services to financial advisers and their clients.”

AFA partners with Plan for Life, Riskinfo and Beddoes Institute on the Life Company of the Year Awards, which celebrate excellence in service, product and support delivered to advisers and their clients and are the leading annual recognition for retail life insurers, annuities and investment bond providers in Australia.

Plan for Life provides the benchmarking research for the life insurance, annuity and investment bond product awards.

Rael Solomon, Regional Managing Director, Plan for Life, said, “Whilst 2020 was a difficult year for the life insurance market, life insurers have continued doing their best to support advisers through increased training efforts, maintained high levels of service for both advisers and customers and kept a high profile through advertising their products.”

In the Client Service Team Awards, NEOS won the Underwriting Award, and the BDM/Business Support Award, while OnePath took home the Claims Award. Beddoes Institute’s Adviser Survey underpins the three key team-based awards.

Dr Rebecca Sheils, Director of the Beddoes Institute, said, “Our research findings from financial advisers indicate that the new insurers have made significant gains across Underwriting and their BDM teams. Underwriting performance across the industry overall dropped over the last 12 months. Likewise, claims performance across the industry overall also dropped. It was a challenging year for BDM teams in 2020 as reflected in slightly lower scores compared to 12 months ago. That said, the top performing insurers went above and beyond, delivering an exceptional standard of service and maintaining their strong and supportive adviser relationships under difficult circumstances.”

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AFA CEO Philip Kewin said, “Consumer insights into the quality of life insurance providers are invaluable in helping advisers select policies that meet the needs of their clients and provide great outcomes for them in terms of both product and service. We congratulate the winners of these Awards, who are going above and beyond to meet the customer’s wants and needs.”

The Awards are based on Beddoes’ Total Experience Index (the Index), a customer experience metric specific to the life insurance sector. The Index is a weighted average that represents how a company performs across all significant drivers of life company recommendation.

The Awards also acknowledge insurers who are delivering outstanding outcomes to consumers in specific categories. BT won five of the seven individual category awards, including Value for Money and Most Satisfied Customers in the Policyholder Choice Awards and Best Application Process, Best Claims Staff, Focus on Early Intervention in the Claims Customer Choice Awards. The Return to Health & Wellness category winner was OnePath and Zurich won Best Turnaround Time for claim processing.

Director of the Beddoes Institute, Dr Rebecca Sheils said, “In what can be perceived as one of the more challenging periods for the industry, our research findings show that whilst insurer performance is consistent over the life of a policy, customer ratings have fallen significantly across all stages and touchpoints of a claim. This year’s Award winners were the organisations that bucked this trend, providing an exceptional customer experience across the entire customer journey: from purchase to claim payment and ongoing claims management, and as a result driving customer advocacy and positive word of mouth for their brand, advisers and policies.”

Full list of Award winners and runners-up

Consumer Choice Award

• Winner: BT Financial Group
• Runners-Up: One Path Life & Clearview

Policyholder Choice Awards

Value for Money

• Winner: BT Financial Group
• Runners-Up: TAL Life & AIA Australia

Most Satisfied Customer

• Winner: BT Financial Group
• Runners-Up: AIA Australia & Clearview

Claims Customer Choice Awards

Best Application Process

• Winner: BT Financial Group
• Runners-Up: OnePath Life & Zurich Financial Services

Best Turnaround Time

• Winner: Zurich Financial Services
• Runners-Up: BT Financial Group & OnePath Life

Best Claims Staff

• Winner: BT Financial Group
• Runners-Up: Zurich Financial Services & OnePath Life

Return to Health & Wellness

• Winner: OnePath Life
• Runners-Up: BT Financial Group & Zurich Financial Services

Focus on Early Intervention

• Winner: BT Financial Group
• Runners-Up: AMP & OnePath Life

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TAL Life was named overall Platinum Winner of the AFA Life Company of the Year Awards (the Awards) for 2018 at an event in Sydney tonight. AIA Australia, OnePath Life and Zurich Financial Services Australia were runners up for the Platinum Award.

AFA CEO Philip Kewin said, “We believe it is important to recognise those financial organisations who are delivering outstanding products and services to financial advisers and their clients and congratulate all of our 2018 winners and finalists. These are the companies that are demonstrating a genuine commitment to innovating and improving their offer so that Australians are better protected and invested.”

Categories for the Awards include the overall AFA Life Company of the Year Awards, offered in conjunction with Strategic Insight and the Client Service Team Awards, offered in conjunction with the Beddoes Institute and Riskinfo.

The overall Awards are based on independent quantitative research conducted by Strategic Insight, Actuaries and Researchers, resulting from three separate investigations during the year. Five key areas are compared across the life companies and their products.

Rael Solomon, Regional Managing Director, Strategic Insight, which supports the overall Life Company of the Year awards said, “Market reporting on the life insurance industry shows that trends over the last five years have continued, with overall life insurance premium inflows down 9% but overall risk premium inflows increasing by almost 2% to year-end September 2018. The impact of the Banking Royal Commission is yet to be seen in the figures. We expect that life company activities to attract and train advisers will have a positive impact on inflows in the future.”

The Client Service Team Awards are underpinned by Beddoes’ annual Adviser Experience Benchmarking Study in which a large and representative sample of advisers rate their main insurance providers across all key touch-points between  adviser and insurer, including underwriting, product, BDMs, business support and claims.

In the Client Service Team Awards, BT Financial Group won the Underwriting Award, OnePath took home the Claims Award and Zurich was awarded the BDM/Business Support Award.

Dr Rebecca Sheils, Director of the Beddoes Institute, which supports the Client Service Team Awards said, “We firmly believe these awards and the Beddoes Adviser Experience Benchmarking Study that underpins them is helping life insurance companies to lift their level of service and expertise in order to deliver a better outcome and a better experience for both advisers and their clients. It is encouraging to see that advisers rated products significantly higher in 2018 compared to 2017 across most product attributes, especially definitions.”

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Rebecca Sheils

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Beddoes Institute are hosting the second Consumer Choice Awards (the Awards) which is underpinned by Beddoes Institute’s 2017 Policyholder Perceptions Study and Claimant Journey Study.

The Awards give people who hold life insurance policies (policyholders) via financial advisers and people who make claims (claimants) on those policies, a strong voice in shaping the future of life insurance in Australia.

“When an adviser recommends an insurer to their client, they jointly enter an agreement to deliver to their client when they need it the most,” said AFA CEO Phil Kewin. “The proof can only be measured by the client themselves. That’s why the AFA and Beddoes have partnered to deliver the Consumer Choice Awards.  This way we can recognise those insurers that are delivering a fantastic customer experience and help raise the bar for all, so we continue to make a positive impact on the lives of so many Australians.”

The Awards are designed to encourage excellence; to raise the bar for all life insurers and to recognise excellence where it’s found.  By recognising exemplary insurers, the Awards help advisers and their clients as they choose life insurance policies.

Director of the Beddoes Institute, Dr Rebecca Sheils said, “Using this approach, a large body of evidence about the everyday experience of the majority of policyholders and claimants has been created and this is now guiding improvements in service across the sector and enabling us to recognise the companies that are providing excellent service and transforming the lives of their customers.”

The Awards include the Policyholder Choice Awards and the Claimant Choice Awards. The Policyholder Choice Awards recognise outstanding customer service during 2017, as well as the value (other than protection) that personal life insurance provides such as education, health and wellness programs, communication and other consumer-focused initiatives.

The Claimant Choice Awards recognise outstanding service of claimants of Income Protection, Trauma and Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) insurance during 2017 including claims processing, early intervention, support and holistic care.

Winners of the Awards will be announced on Thursday 16 November at the Langham Hotel, Sydney. The Award categories include:

1. Overall Consumer Choice Award
2. Policyholder Choice Awards
   1. Value for Money
   2. Best New Customer Service
   3. Most Satisfied Customer
3. Claimant Choice Awards
   1. Best Application Process
   2. Best Turnaround Time
   3. Best Claims Staff
   4. Return to Health and Wellness
   5. Focus on Early Intervention
   6. Greatest Gain in Advocacy

More information on the Consumer Choice Awards.

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Rebecca Sheils

At an inaugural event in Sydney on Tuesday night, the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Beddoes Institute announced winners of the new Consumer Choice Awards which recognise the best insurers as rated by advised policyholders and claimants.

Based on results of in-depth research conducted by the Beddoes Institute, the Award Winners of the top three categories are:

• Most Recommended Company – BT Financial Group – Winner
• Honouring Commitments – TAL – One Path and BT Financial Group – Dual Winners
• Best Total Customer Experience – BT Financial Group– Winner

The AFA Consumer Choice Awards are based on customer ratings from more than 2,100 consumers across all major life insurance companies. Claimant awards reflect the opinions of surveyed policyholders who are going through or who have gone through the claims process, while policyholder awards reflect the views of all surveyed policyholders.

Speaking at the event, National’s Senator John Williams said the insurance and advice industries were helping to build a better life for more Australians.

“Unless you are really wealthy and have millions in the bank, you need insurance to get you through life. You mean a lot to a lot of people.”

Last night’s gala event held at the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney, was attended by FSC CEO Sally Loane, Senator Williams, insurance providers, the AFA Board and advisers.

According to AFA CEO Brad Fox, the Consumer Choice Awards are an important part of its role as a leading professional body as they bring the Association closer to the consumer.

“All parties – insurers, advisers, and product manufacturers – need to call out actions that don’t reach the highest standards and not wait for the media or consumers to call them out.”

Beddoes Institute’s Dr Rebecca Sheils said: “We saw a gap between perceptions of customers and the experience of claimants, and we believe these awards and our research go some way to addressing this.”

Life companies needed at least 50 customer ratings to be eligible for a policyholder choice award or claimant choice award. All claimants from participating companies in the previous 12 months were invited to contribute and 25% to 30% responded, which is a significant number for this type of research and much higher than expected.

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Rebecca Sheils

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Beddoes Institute have announced the 2016 Preliminary Award Winners of the new Consumer Choice Awards which recognise the best insurers as rated by advised policyholders and claimants.

Based on results from the first wave of in-depth research conducted in March/April 2016, the Preliminary Award Winners of the top three categories include:

• Most Satisfied Claimants – BT Financial Group – Winner
• Most Satisfied Policyholders – TAL – Winner
• Best Policyholder Advocacy – TAL – Winner

The Consumer Choice Awards are based on customer ratings from more than 2,100 customers across all major life insurance companies and foreshadow the inaugural Annual Consumer Choice Awards in November 2016.

Claimant awards reflect the opinions of surveyed policyholders who are going through or who have gone through the claims process, while policyholder awards reflect the views of all surveyed policyholders.

“Life insurance remains a vital protection for Australian families and individuals,” said AFA CEO Brad Fox. “These awards bring the voice of policyholders who have a financial adviser to the forefront of thinking for the customer experience teams at our major life insurers. They serve the purpose of establishing benchmarks, driving competition and recognising best practice performance.”

Dr Rebecca Sheils, Director of Beddoes Institute said, “Recognition for offering the best service is incredibly prestigious and desirable, particularly in the current environment where advisers and their clients want confidence they have chosen the right insurer.”

Life companies needed at least 50 customer ratings to be eligible for a policyholder choice award or claimant choice award. All claimants from participating companies in the previous 12 months were invited to contribute and 25% to 30% responded, which is a significant number for this type of research and much higher than expected.

“We have developed a quantitative way to evaluate insurers to help give advisers and their clients peace of mind when selecting a trauma, TPD or income protection insurance provider, based on the experiences of actual customers,” Dr Sheils said. “It’s like asking a couple of thousand neighbours with experience with those organisations, which ones they rate.”

The AFA and the Beddoes Institute are encouraging all life insurance companies to step forward for the inaugural Annual Consumer Choice Awards in November 2016. Participating life companies are required to submit their policyholder and claimant contact lists by the end of July.

The complete list of the May 2016 Consumer Choice Awards winners and finalists is:

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Rebecca Sheils

All Life Insurance companies should step forward to allow an independent assessment of the experience of their life insurance, Trauma, TPD and income protection claimants from the last twelve months to ensure future customer satisfaction.

According to interim results from the Beddoes Institute’s Claimant Journey Study, three of the biggest life insurance companies have done so and these results show claimants who have a financial adviser have a much better experience with life insurance companies than is commonly assumed.

The study found that income protection claimants’ satisfaction with insurance companies is 80%, with the strongest performing company achieving 85% satisfaction and an NPS® of 45.

Meanwhile, satisfaction among individuals who made a trauma or TPD claim is even higher at 84% across participating companies with the highest performing company scoring 90% on overall satisfaction and a NPS® of 65.

These results prove the claimant experience is better than what we think and that advocacy of life companies among both IP and lump sum claimants is strong. This positive claims experience is highlighted in comments made by these recent claimants in the study:

• “It’s been a very stressful time. I’ve physically stopped being able to be “me”. On top of that I’ve struggled to pay bills. The claims staff have understood my frustration and put my worries to rest. Payments have been quick and all explained and they have helped me stop “launching” back into physical recovery and work, which I was likely to do, and given me time to heal and understand what I need to do to fully recover, not just get back to work as quickly as possible.”
• “I couldn’t have hoped for a more understanding case manager, and a company that seems very focused on actually helping its customers, as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
• “Constant communication. I never felt like I was being rushed to close the claim – they were just wanting to make sure I got better.”

The results from the recently conducted Life Insurance Industry Performance Barometer will be used to inform the interim Claimants and Policyholders Consumers’ Choice Awards and commendations to be announced next week – ahead of the full inaugural annual Consumers’ Choice Awards in November.

“We encourage all life insurance companies to participate in the Life Insurance Industry Performance Barometer policyholder and claimant studies in order to reassure the community of their commitment to transparent and independent performance appraisal and continuous improvement in the service they provide to policy holders as the clients of financial advisers,” said Association of Financial Advisers Chief Executive Officer Brad Fox.

Beddoes Institute Director Dr Rebecca Sheils says the starting point is to build a large body of evidence about actual claimant’s experiences rather than focussing on the opinions of just a few.

“We need to use this data to really understand claimants’ needs at different stages of their journey so that life companies can develop tailored services and solutions that deliver better outcomes for people on claims. It’s all about giving the consumer a voice and placing them at the centre of new and improved models of claims service delivery.”

For more information on the Consumer Choice Awards, go to www.consumerschoice.org.au

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Rebecca Sheils

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Beddoes Institute have launched the inaugural Consumer Choice Awards to encourage better customer service delivery from life insurers.

Based on new research by the Beddoes Institute, using feedback received from more than 2,000 policyholders and claimants in March and April 2016, the Consumer Choice Awards see the AFA and the Beddoes Institute championing higher benchmarks in life insurance service standards in Australia.

“With its focus on the customer service experience provided by life insurers to financial advice clients, the Consumer Choice Awards demonstrate the leadership position we are taking on improving the life insurance experience of policyholders and claimants,” said AFA CEO Brad Fox. “We know that consumers who arrange their life insurance through a financial adviser already have a considerably better claims experience than those who rely on direct insurance and group insurance inside their superannuation fund, but the bar can be raised even further.”

Mr Fox said it is important to AFA members that the reputation of retail life insurance arranged with the advice and support of a financial adviser is enhanced across the community. “The Consumer Choice Awards reflect the opinions of policyholders and, as such, will drive higher standards of client experience from life insurers.”

The Consumer Choice Awards are based on the policyholder and claimant component of Beddoes Institute’s broader industry-wide customer experience benchmarking program – The Life Insurance Industry Performance Barometer[1]. In addition to monitoring the end-client’s experience of insurance, the The Life Insurance Industry Performance Barometer also measures the adviser’s experience of working with life companies.

“The research provides the industry with an integrated and holistic view of how well life insurers are servicing customers as well as their relative position in the broader market context,” said the Beddoes Institute’s Dr Rebecca Sheils.

Life insurance companies which deliver outstanding customer service, as rated by clients of financial advisers, will be recognised in the inaugural Consumer Choice Awards in November 2016. Preliminary Awards based on results from the first wave of in-depth research conducted in March/April 2016 will be announced this month.

———-

[1] In 2013 the Beddoes Institute released The Value of Protection White Paper (the White Paper) with the AFA and BT Financial Group to stimulate improvement in life insurance claims management across the sector.  This White Paper identified seven critical needs of clients, and provided insurers with a consumer-focused framework for evaluating current claims management approaches and developing new and improved models of service.  The White Paper also stimulated the development of the Life Insurance Industry Performance Barometer, which provides life companies with a thorough assessment of their service delivery performance through the eyes of advisers, policyholders and claimants. The Life Insurance Industry Performance Barometer underpins the AFA Life Company of the Year Client Service Team Awards.

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Rebecca Sheils

Beddoes Institute has announced the 2015 winners and finalists of its inaugural Most Trusted Adviser Network (MTA) Awards, recognising the best of the best MTA advisers and advice practices, as identified by client ratings.

Overall, nine financial advisers took out the four national and ten state adviser awards, with eight financial advice practices taking out the five national and ten state practice awards. Of these, the Securitor Financial Group network of practices and advisers took out six of the nine national awards, with the Millennium3 and Hillross Financial Services networks taking out the remaining three national awards.

“To be a Most Trusted Adviser Network Awards finalist or winner is an incredibly prestigious and desirable title, particularly in the current environment where consumers want greater reassurance that they have chosen the right adviser to trust,” said Dr Rebecca Sheils, Director of Beddoes Institute.

The new MTA awards identified the Most Trusted Advisers and Practices and Most Recommended Advisers and Practices nationally and within each state in 2015. Winners and finalists were selected based on how they were rated by their clients in Beddoes Institute’s Client Experience Survey during 2015.

Dr Sheils said common to all award winners were consistent strengths across key attributes including client trust, advocacy and willingness to recommend to family and friends[1].

“The MTA awards are based on 3,750 advice client ratings across 137 of Australia’s top MTA advisers and 64 MTA practices,” Dr Sheils said. “Adding further to the robustness of the award process, advisers and practices needed at least 20 client ratings and a response rate of more than 30% to be eligible for an award.”

That said, award recipients typically had a client survey response rate of 47%, which means that the awards are based on a large and representative sample of clients.

“If financial advisers don’t measure trust between clients and advisers, they will ignore it, fail to cultivate it and ultimately risk losing it,” Dr Sheils said. “Measuring trust is important for creating a pathway for improving trust between advisers and the community, as well as building a sustainable advice business, and the best advisers and practices are doing this.”

The Adviser Trust! Score measures a number of qualities of the financial adviser and practice, specifically the quality of client service they offer, the business model they operate under and their reputation.

Advisers with high Adviser Trust! Scores have clients that act on their advice more often, believe they are more on track with their financial plan and are financially better off as a result of working with their adviser, are satisfied with the fees they pay, rate their adviser’s highly on fee transparency and believe they are getting better value than clients of other advisers.

An Adviser Trust! Score of 80 is regarded as excellent with the winners of the 2015 MTA awards having an Adviser Trust! Score of more than 91 (out of 100).

“We have developed a quantitative way to evaluate advisers and to help give consumers peace of mind when selecting an adviser, one that is beyond educational and professional standards, and is based on the voices of real clients,” Dr Sheils said.

In addition to Most Trusted Adviser and Most Trusted Practice, awards were also given for Technical Expertise, Communication and Interpersonal Relationship, Client Engagement, Client

For a complete list of the 2015 MTA Practice of the Year winners and finalists click here.

———

[1] The key metrics used to measure ‘trusted referral’ were the Adviser Trust! Score and the Net Promoter Score® which were based on the question “Would you recommend you adviser/practice to your family and friends?”

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Richard Dunkerley

Financial advisers must look to adapt their mobile communication strategies in order to maintain the valued adviser-client relationship as consumer behaviour continues to evolve.

This is the central finding of Connected Convenience, a white paper released yesterday by the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) with the support of Zurich, based on research conducted by the Beddoes Institute.

AFA CEO Brad Fox said that financial advisers who have not already considered a mobile approach are not just disadvantaged but are ignoring a change in client and consumer behaviour that will have substantial long-term repercussions.

“Mobile lumps two very different devices and sets of users together and it’s clear from the behaviour of financial advice clients that a ‘one size fits all’ mobile strategy will not succeed. Segmenting these users is an important part of increasing engagement of each of the two ‘mobile’ user groups – the smartphone users and the tablets users,” Mr Fox said.

“The biggest change over the coming year will be an increase in the number of clients accessing email and the internet via mobile devices, followed by the number accessing banking, apps, financial news and connecting with businesses,” Mr Fox said. “Gen Y Clients will increase their use of social media more than any other generation and Baby Boomers will access financial news more often via mobile devices.

According to the White Paper, with smartphones now ubiquitous among financial advice clients and 62% of Baby Boomers owning a tablet, it is clear that a universal mobile strategy cannot succeed. Segmenting smartphone and tablet users is fundamental to growing the engagement of both client groups.

Dr Rebecca Sheils from Beddoes Institute said, “Because the experience created by each device and how they are used is different, advisers creating content and delivering it with functionality that is specific to smartphones and tablets will maximise penetration and engagement with their clients and new groups of consumers.”

Co-author of Connected Convenience, Richard Dunkerley, Head of Marketing at Zurich said that the White Paper gives a very clear indication to financial advisers, licensees and other participants in the financial advice space, of where to target spending of their marketing dollars. “Clearly the days of building a website and thinking you have engaged with your clients are long past. The opportunity is to target marketing spend so as to integrate your services into the lifestyle of your client and how best to do that depends on their demographic.”

Connected Convenience reports on the communication technology preferences of 779 clients of financial advisers, sourced from research conducted in August 2014 to establish their use of mobile devices, services, content and application consumption, and the influences behind their choices.

Read the White Paper here.

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