Australian life insurer TAL has teamed up with insurtech company Cover Genius to introduce a new embedded life insurance product in Australia.  

Dubbed backd by TAL, the new offering will target a market segment comprising part-time workers, contractors and casual employees. 

The product capitalises on Cover Genius’ expertise in digital distribution and TAL’s life insurance knowledge to provide insurance through platforms already used by Australians.  

Employers will now be able to offer life, income and illness protection to their employees via payroll platforms, the companies said.   

The service simplifies the process with online registration, eliminating the need for underwriting and enabling fully digital claims processing. 

TAL Group CEO and managing director Fiona Macgregor said: “At the core of our Cover Genius partnership is ensuring more Australians who want and need insurance can get it. To do this, cover should be tailored to their needs, and be easy to access, understand and keep. 

“With backd, more Australians will get support critical to their recovery, addressing an important community need.” 

In the future, TAL and Cover Genius plan to extend the distribution of the new product to consumers directly through partnerships with organisations in the health and banking sectors. 

Cover Genius CEO and co-founder Angus McDonald stated: “Many people do not have life insurance either because they feel they cannot afford it, have not been offered it or think the process will be too complex. 

“backd overcomes these issues, by giving employers a simple way to offer their employees easily accessible protection that suits their income and financial needs by simply embedding it into their existing HR or payroll platform.” 

In April, TAL agreed to acquire a 15.1% stake in Challenger, a fund manager and retirement solutions provider.  

The transaction involves the purchase of 104,353,125 issued shares for a total of Y80bn ($547.3m).