Life insurance companies are rolling out enhanced websites and tools that allow clients to research, view and manage their insurance policies online. The rollouts are efforts to meet the expectations of increasingly technology-savvy consumers.
Although these websites could lighten the day-to-day workload for some financial advisors who sell insurance, their existence also raises concerns about policyholders making insurance-related decisions without proper advice.
“Insurers are putting a big investment into technology. They’re going directly to the customers and giving them the tools that they need,” says Doug McPhie, partner and Canadian insurance leader with Ernst & Young LLP in Toronto, adding that clients are increasingly demanding the ability to manage some of their insurance needs online. “They’re going to be attracted to the companies that provide the most user-friendly and informative tools.”
Equitable Life Insurance Co. of Canada, based in Waterloo, Ont., is the latest insurer to beef up its tech offerings. In April, it launched Equitable Client Access, an online tool that allows clients to view their investments and insurance policies online. This tool provides such information as the current market value of investments, guaranteed interest account maturity dates and values, payment dates and annual income for payout annuities, and death benefit and beneficiary information for life and critical illness insurance policies.
Although many banks and investment companies already provide clients with online access to this sort of account detail, it’s uncommon in the insurance sector, says Scott Stobo, director of product development and marketing, savings and retirement, with Equitable Life.
“Today’s clients expect immediate access to their information,” Stobo says. “We’re giving our clients the option to view both their investments and insurance policies online so they can get a complete picture of their holdings with us.” (Previously, clients received information about their policies through account statements or by requesting information from their advisors.) “It’s information that [clients] always could have received through their advisor,” he adds. “But now, it’s available at their fingertips.”
Equitable Life’s new online tool could mean some advisors won’t be hearing from their clients as often – at least, with respect to queries about existing policies. As for making policy changes, however, the advisor still will be the one to pull the trigger.
Equitable Life’s online tool doesn’t allow clients to make changes to their accounts or policies – yet. However, the insurer is considering more interactive features, Stobo says: “Future phases may include enhancements to allow clients to make modifications to their policies.”
Toronto-based BMO Life Assurance Co. also is looking to allow its clients to make certain changes to their insurance policies online, such as designating a new beneficiary. BMO Life already permits its clients to purchase certain types of insurance online, says Julie Barker-Merz, vice president and chief operating officer, and the firm is investing heavily in expanding functionality.
“The next level for us,” she notes, “is to make it very easy for our customers, from a self-serve perspective, to make some of those changes.”
The concept of giving clients the ability to manage their own policies is concerning to some advisors. They suggest that clients who change their coverage without consulting their advisor could miss out on financial planning opportunities or overlook key considerations.
“People need to sit down with a professional,” says Mark Halpern, certified financial planner and president of illnessPROTECTION.com Inc. in Markham, Ont., “and have a conversation about how insurance fits into their overall planning.”
However, Stobo says, Equitable Life’s online tools are intended to complement the role advisors play, not take away from it: “Client access supplements the service advisors can offer to their clients.”
Barker-Merz agrees: “There always is going to be a need for thorough, face-to-face financial planning and advice.”
In contrast, many other insurers are aiming their online services at prospective clients, offering educational and research tools. For instance, most insurers’ websites now feature quoting technology, allowing prospective clients to find out roughly how much they can expect to pay in premiums for a given type of policy.
“It’s increasingly unacceptable for an insurance company to not provide some kind of online inquiry function for consumers,” says Allan Buitendag, leader of the insurance consulting practice with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Toronto. “Consumers are demanding it.”
Many of the banks’ insurance arms offer comprehensive online tools. Mississauga, Ont.-based RBC Insurance Services Inc.’s website, for instance, offers questionnaires and calculators to help visitors determine how much coverage they need in various categories of insurance, as well as interactive plan-comparison tools and quoting tools.
Says Cathy Preston, the firm’s vice president of life and health insurance: “RBC Insurance’s online tools are designed to help Canadians learn more about insurance. These tools could save advisors time, as clients can educate themselves on insurance prior to sitting down with an advisor.”
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