Aviva has topped a list of Australia's life insurers who have invested heavily in technology to improve their online offering, according to a new report from researcher Investment Trends.
The National Australia Bank-owned insurer took out top spot in front of AMP and CommInsure in the first Investment Trends Life Insurer Benchmarking Report.
AMP secured second place overall with the highest ratings for reporting and integration, while Axa led in the area of decision support for advisers, the report found.
Investment Trends advisory board member Tim Cobb said that until recently only a handful of insurers had committed to technology.
"What we are now seeing is all the major players investing significantly and, for the first time, delivering real flexibility and usability," he said.
"Planners rate underwriting speed and consistency as critical. Insurers now realise that the only way to deliver this cost effectively is by using technology effectively."
In 2009, one of the 10 leading insurers surveyed released new technology or a major upgrade, the research found.
"The new entrants into this area have made the market much more competitive. Insurers such as AMP, Macquarie and Aviva, who already had good capabilities, have upgraded significantly to really raise the bar," Cobb said.
However, despite a number of the insurers increasing their capabilities and support of advisers, the integration with financial planning software is still in its infancy, the report said.
"Macquarie and AMP are the leaders in this area, but there is still a significant gap between insurer capability and adviser needs," Cobb said.
"We expect this to be a key area of development going forward."
The report findings were correlated following a detailed review of the online offerings from 10 leading Australian life insurers, across over 150 functional areas.
More than 1400 financial planners were surveyed for the research.
