Aviva reports 60 percent reduction in Life Insurance applications

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Well known insurer Aviva claim that they have managed to bring down the amount of report requests made to doctors by 60% by using underwriters and nurses to speak directly to customers and gather extra medical information.

The initiative, known as Improving Customer Underwriting (ICU) emphasises the necessity of underwriters to make faster and better decisions.

In addition to time saving and improved efficiency in getting customers cover sorted out quicker the plan is aimed at reducing the amount of time that doctors will have to spend on report requests which in turn will allow the company to make cost effective savings.

The process of collecting evidence from a customer’s doctor can be incredibly slow especially given the massive workload of a GP, so the initiative is trying to manage the risk involved.

Although the insurer, will still continue to use doctors’ reports as they are necessary for some applications in order to ensure that they are offering the fairest and most competitive terms, the ICU initiative will keep these to a minimum.

Protection director at Aviva, Richard Verdin had this to say about the initiative:

"We constantly look for opportunities to lead and grow the market. One of the main delays experienced when setting up life insurance policies is gaining evidence from a customer's doctor, which in a large number of cases doesn't even change the underwriting decision."

This strategy should mean that Aviva will now be able to offer a quicker and more efficient service to their customers making them a more attractive option for prospective life insurance customers.