The challenge for financial services intermediaries in today’s market is to find smarter ways of:

• expanding into new markets
• increasing share of wallet per customer
• fulfilling regulatory obligations
• reducing cost per sale
• addressing the imbalance between sales time and administration time

Existing life writers are well aware of the amount of time and resources they need to spend on submitting and completing business. They are equally aware of the potential to generate significantly higher revenues if this could be overcome. For financial advisers and other intermediaries, writing life risk business has always been a possible solution to some of these challenges, but it has been notoriously difficult to incorporate into their operations, due to

• prohibitively complex and inefficient business requirements and processes
• time consuming administration and follow up demands
• costs of managing and servicing
• time delays in sales cycle and commissions
• life insurance being a harder sell than wealth management
• the danger of alienating clients

Now advisers can access a uniquely powerful way to transform the scope, revenue and profitability of their businesses. Based on its superior intelligence and functionality, the system enables a ‘One Touch’ Application via a simple to use, self contained, web-based platform. Underwriting and policy issue processing is automated to streamline fulfilment or to accelerate the underwriting process, if further requirements are necessary.

The customer can effectively walk in with a life protection problem and walk out with a life protection policy under their arm. This transforms the concept of marketing life business into an exciting new revenue stream, by

• dramatically reducing time and cost per sale
• eliminating the complexity and time delays in approving and processing business
• making it viable for non-life intermediaries to provide a truly holistic advisory service

Perhaps the most exciting opportunity that Straight Through Solutions opens up for intermediaries is the vast untapped potential of ‘under 45 middle income earners’. In more highly regulated markets, this typically does not provide a large enough case size to make them an attractive target. The efficiencies of the Straight Through platform now means that advisers can tap into this immeasurable source of new revenue and profit potential. By capturing this market efficiently advisers will find it can also open up the potential to develop these new clients as future wealth management prospects. This could make it an ideal way to add real value to advisers’ wealth/risk practices.

Straight Through’s automated processing means advisers can produce illustrations on their existing financial planning software and have it linked to the Straight Through platform to self-populate the electronic application. This reduces errors and saves time.

The intuitive system then leads them through an easy to follow ‘One Touch’ Application, which only prompts the customer on questions that are relevant to their profile.

In five to ten minutes the application is completed and, all being well, a policy can be issued on the spot. It literally is that simple! Once policy issue is completed, the system puts the commission generation system into action automatically, so advisers will get paid faster.

Of course in some cases further underwriting is required. With Straight Through’s intuitive ‘One Touch’ Application, however, advisers can be confident that:

• all necessary information has been collected for assessment – the system automatically prompts any corrections required on the spot.
• advisers will have instant advice on what further medical, occupational or lifestyle reports/questionnaires are required. No second guessing. No errors. No time wasted.