All articles by Charles Davis
Charles Davis
Golden’ $10.2trn opportunity in US
A new study by Conning Research & Consulting indicates that the protection gap for the USs middle-income market is estimated at $10.2trn, representing a huge opportunity for life insurers. Over the past five years the missed opportunity in the middle market for life insurers has grown significantly, and our latest estimate is that it has reached $10.2trn, says Terence Martin, director at Conning Research & Consulting. Martin says there is a huge demographic bulge of consumers in the US entering their prime insurance-buying years, but the recession, combined with soaring healthcare costs, has caused the protection gap to balloon.
MetLife ‘scores’ with Super Bowl advert
MetLife has used the Super Bowl in the US to launch an advertising campaign aiming to persuade consumers that obtaining insurance does not have to be complicated. The advertisement opens with Charlie Brown strolling alongside Lucy, Linus and other Peanuts characters into a grassy field, when suddenly a small army of other Saturday morning cartoon characters from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s meet them. As the characters come from all points across the universe to gather in an open field, a voiceover says: No matter who you are, no matter where you are from, every family, everywhere, should have the financial security they need
Golden’ $10.2trn opportunity in US middle market
The protection gap for the USs middle income market is estimated at $10.2 trn, representing a huge opportunity for life insurers, according to a new study by Conning Research & Consulting. Over the past five years the missed opportunity in the middle market for life insurers has grown significantly, and our latest estimate is that it has reached $10.2 trn, said Terence Martin, director at Conning Research & Consulting Martin said there is a huge demographic bulge of consumers in the US entering their prime insurance-buying years, but the recession, combined with soaring healthcare costs, has caused the protection gap to balloon
Many challenges, many opportunities
An industry founded on the principle ofrisk-avoidance, the US life insurance market might seem an odd choice for the venue for the next technological revolution Yet its data-rich, process-heavy pedigree presents an ideal opportunity for the armies of consultants that have proscribed waves of change through the years in core processing systems towards more nimble and less siloed architecture to have the last laugh. The demographics of life insurance in the US skew increasingly older, but a huge shift is inevitable, and insurers may well be in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time, as an industry once focused on manufacturing and selling product rides the technology to a more consultative future.
Online only is just not good enough
Research by LIMRA highlights that although the online channel is drawing a far larger audience of potential life insurance buyers in the US than ever before, it has significant failings when it comes to securing sales
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Northwestern shouts out its message
Shrugging off its former low-profile image in the US life market, Northwestern Mutual life has embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign spearheaded by high-profile sports sponsorship Chad Dern, the insurers brand and advertising director, provides Charles Davis with insight into the new campaign. For years, Northwestern Mutual Life ran thousands of ads with the tagline, The Quiet Company
Keeping the distributor satisfied
Insurance producers remain the most vital cog in the US life distribution channel, but many are not getting the resources and support needed to maximise their businesses, according to a new study by professional services firm Deloitte Consulting.
The Dodd-Frank regulatory conundrum
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, all but the very largest US life insurers appear likely to be subject to additional regulation by the Federal Reserve Board But this could change at the whim of newly-created bodies, the Financial Stability Oversight Council and Federal Insurance Office
Harnessing an ineluctable trend
Initial concerns about the compliance issues surrounding the use of social networking sites in life insurance marketing have given way to the recognition that Facebook, Linked-In and other networks are here to stay. The inevitability of social media as a force for reaching out to three critical components of the life industry producers, consumers and employees have let to a veritable explosion in the use of the technology.
MetLife takes reverse mortgage lead
Departure of two of the USs largest banks from the reverse mortgage market has created an opportunity for the US largest life insurer, MetLife, to fill the void The departure of two of the largest players in the reverse mortgage business, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, citing the chaotic nature of the US housing market, has not deterred others from filling the void.