The level of ownership of life and disability insurance is nothing short of a national crisis. Most people simply do not have enough insurance to properly protect themselves and their families in case of major disability or death. Consider these recent research findings in Australia:

• Recent figures published by the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) show 60 per cent of the Australian population is insured for less than one year’s income.
• Rice Walker Actuaries calculated that most Australians would require cover of at least 10 years’ income to ensure a family’s lifestyle could be maintained in the event of the premature death of a parent.
• Only four per cent of Australians have more than 10 years’ cover.

and in New Zealand:

• 67% of families have either no life insurance cover or too little cover
• only 31% had enough life cover in place to support them for at least five years
• almost half of the population has no life, medical, income protection or trauma/illness insurance at all
• while more than 90% of those insured believe their cover is robust, only 31% would have long-term support beyond that of paying off immediate expenses, such as a mortgage, at best.

One of the main causes of this crisis is the complexity of the application process – advisers and consumers find it prohibitively time-consuming and life companies struggle to offer a solution that is simple, quick to process and cost-effective to manage.

Consumers need to be able to buy life insurance and have it issued immediately, just as they do with car, household and contents insurance. They also need documentation that is simple and easy to understand.

The intelligent web-based platform created by Straight Through Solutions provides the catalyst to satisfy these needs. The power to achieve a better customer outcome is in the hands of the customer and their adviser.

Beyond better and faster access to cover, the inherent efficiencies in the Straight Through Solutions system in time will enable insurers to either increase profits or bring down premiums in line with expense savings or both.