Nearly a year after Suncorp-owned group Asteron launched its online underwriting solution Lifeguard EQ, about 50 per cent of its life insurance applications are now being generated by advisers online, the group has reported.
"By the end of March we'd like to increase that figure to about 65 per cent," Asteron general manager Jordan Hawke told InvestorDaily.
He said Asteron planned to increase the number of online applications by introducing new enhancements to Lifeguard EQ on 1 March.
"One of these enhancements will make it easier for advisers to track where applications are at in the tele-interviewing process, which is undertaken by outsourced provider UHG - a specialist in the data collection of clients' health information," he said.
Hawke said advisers liked the ability to process life insurance applications online as it reduced costs, increased efficiency, freed up advisers' time and improved turnaround times.
Asteron was not the only insurance group to have seen growth in the space.
Zurich, which launched its online underwriting system LifeXpress in April 2009, was currently generating about 35 per cent of its life insurance applications online.
Tower Australia, which launched Accelerate in April 2008, was generating around 65 per cent of its life insurance applications online.
Meanwhile, amid speculation this week that Suncorp Life, which Asteron sits under, could be up for sale, Suncorp Life chief executive Geoff Summerhayes said the claims were false and that Suncorp Life was an important component of Suncorp Group's strategy.
Summerhayes said Suncorp Group chief executive Patrick Snowball had been explicit in his confirmation that he was there to run a group, and that all elements of the group were important contributors to the growth and success of the overall business.
"Anything to the contrary is merely inaccurate speculation," Summerhayes told InvestorDaily.
