Experts in the UK protection market have long called for a ‘revolution’ to make buying and selling life insurance easier.
Time and again industry analysts acknowl¬edge that the speed and ease of a protection transaction is falling behind a motor insurance or home insurance transaction.
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UnderwriteMe’s claim that it has devel¬oped "genuinely market changing" under¬writing technology to enable advisers and customers to engage with insurers using a single, consistent process is therefore wor¬thy of analysis.
The service is targeted at financial advisers and UnderwriteMe says it allows them more time to focus on advice with a single application process for all insurers.
Jeynes says: "We are in the development phase still and we will be coming into market in the next few months. Initially, UnderwriteMe will be adviser facing.
"LifeSearch [a life and protection insur¬ance advise-based broker in the UK] will be the first to market with their version of UnderwriteMe, but behind the scenes it is us that are powering it.
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By GlobalData"In the fullness of time, we are in discussions with aggregator sites, that is direct to consumer sites, and although albeit their brand would be leading it, and we would be powering it from behind the scenes."
How it works
UnderwriteMe says it features a web-enabled underwriting engine and the ability for more than one underwriter at a time to update and make changes to the rule set.
This means advisers and consumers will be able to engage with multiple insurers through a single interface, according to the business’s marketing information.
Jeynes says: "We are trying to get as many insurers plugged in as possible. While virtually every insurer is accepting the solution we have is good for consumers, good for adviser and good for the industry, there are different degrees of take-up.
"By 2016, we expect to have 7-10 insurers plugged into the system and it working. And that’s when it is set to become the game-changer everyone expects it to be."
According to Jeynes, the scope of UnderwriteMe’s technology is "quite huge" and while the protection market is the number one focus in the short term, the team is also considering other business sectors where it could be applied.
Jeynes says: "We are already talking to people in Asia and we have conversations going on in Australia and France about deploying the technology that sits behind it in different guises."
Business model
UnderwriteMe’s business model will involve charging insurers on a per application basis. Intermediaries will not be charged to use the service.
Jeynes says: "It strips out a lot of cost for insurance companies because they will no longer need a large pre-sales underwriting team and it improves efficiencies because you are not going to have this drop-off because they ae getting fatigued by the journey."
He adds: "There is no cost to the broker for selling. There is no change to their relationship with the insurer. We are just the technology that sits between it.
"The incentive for us is to ensure that we are getting the customer journey [right] as that is when we get paid as well. So, every¬one is incentivised in exactly the same way."
Jeynes concludes on the biggest challenge UnderwriteMe has faced to date in launching the business.
"The biggest challenge in the protection market is that customers are often thought as an abstract third-party, when in fact we are all customers," says Jeynes.
Industry reaction
Commenting on UnderwriteMe’s prospects, Andy Couchman, co-chairman of Protection Review, said if UnderwriteMe is adopted by a large part of the market it will be a "big step forward" that can deliver customer value.
However, he noted that if only a few players adopt UnderwriteMe, it will become another complication in the process.
Couchman says: "The question is whether UnderwriteMe can achieve critical mass. The challenge facing UnderwriteMe is that the business may face slower progress than it would like in terms of industry take-up of its technology because many life insurers have legacy systems."
One senior industry executive who asked to be anonymous said UnderwriteMe’s origi¬nal goal was visionary, but it has yet to prove itself able to get there.
The executive said: "UnderwriteMe started out as a game-changer, but they pivoted. Their short term goal now seems to be to provide an innovative life underwriting engine as part of Pacific Life Re’s offering. Who knows if they will return to their original goal?"
In Adrian Stevenson’s view, who is business development manager for Munich Re UK & Ireland Life, UnderwriteMe will improve efficiencies in the application process which is a good thing as he says the industry certainly needs to catch up with others by embracing technological innovations.
Stevenson says: "Unfortunately, whilst they may provide a more efficient process, I don’t believe UnderwriteMe will dramatically increase protection sales. There are bigger barriers for potential customers to overcome from lack of awareness of their needs and general apathy."
