Advisers from UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong have gone so far as offering to sacrifice commission levels in exchange for better digital solutions.
This comes alongside a recognition that while customers would benefit significantly from direct interaction with the life insurance sector, they were unwilling to fork out for better technology, believing it was the duty of the life companies to improve their service offerings to meet today’s demands and provide “a more accessible client experience”.
A series of in-depth interviews with IFAs, bank advisers from the three jurisdictions and their clients – both expat and local – indicated that technology was not yet a deciding factor for the international market – possibly because of the low standards – but the appetite for better solutions was healthy and growing.
Other reasons for the frustration are that many of the sales processes are still paper-based and not a single life company across the three centres surveyed has yet to develop technology “which matches all the needs of all the IFAs all the time”.
Advisers and clients said they expected the same standards of technology platforms as they currently received from their banks.
The report from Insight Discovery, entitled ‘Enabling Technology? What role does technology play in international life companies’ dealings with IFAs and their clients?’ undertook interviews with 18 IFAs and 21 clients from across the three offshore centres.
It revealed there was a perception that online platforms used in the UK were superior to those available to IFAs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai – but there was no evidence to support this.
Philip Cernik, head of global expatriate propositions at Friends Provident International, said customers were demanding “more direct interface opportunities” with their life company and expecting technology should be better used to explain how the products and services met their needs.“
For now, it seems IFAs and clients do not choose international life offerings on the basis of technology, however with the increasing emphasis on the technology in everyday life this is certainly set to change,” he said.
Suggested improvements include simpler applications valuation statements that are easier to obtain and tools to help an IFA explain the offerings of the insurance company.
WhatsApp was widely mentioned as well as facilitating payments through smartphone apps.
“It is important to work collaboratively with customers and distributors in building a suitable offering. One thing is certain; the international insurance market needs to improve its technology offering in the longer term,” Mr Cernik added.
The report concluded: “If, however, technology evolves so that the international life companies develop new products in response, and are far more able to distribute those products directly to the individual clients (and without the involvement of IFAs or bank advisers), then the fundamentals of the business will change radically. At that time, which has not yet been reached, technology will be truly enabling.”
