Asteron Life launches adviser friendly package
Life insurance specialist Asteron Life has launched a new insurance package aimed at making life easier for independent financial advisers in the life risk business.

Life companies take adviser needs ‘seriously’
The AFA’s Richard Klipin said life insurance companies were taking the needs of advisers more seriously, and delivering the goods on products and services.

Macquarie Life appoints national underwriting manager
Macquarie Life has appointed Marcello Bertasso to the newly created role of National Underwriting Manager. Bertasso has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, 10 of which he spent in reinsurance.

ClearView eyes IFA expansion
ClearView Wealth has signalled its intention to pursue further opportunities within Australia’s IFA market.

Insurance insult
A gay Melbourne couple who were forced to undergo blood and medical tests as part of an application for income protection insurance have labelled the requirements ‘invasive’ and ‘insensitive’.

CommInsure executive joins Zurich
CommInsure chief financial officer and chief life actuary Greg Della has departed the group to join rival Zurich Australia. Zurich Australia life and investments chief executive Colin Morgan told InvestorDaily Della would return to Zurich in the role of chief life actuary for Zurich’s life and investments business. He will start with the firm in May.

Zurich reveals internal shake-up
Zurich Australia has announced a shake-up to its life insurance and investment business which sees a key senior management position made redundant. Under the restructure, the position of executive general manager, investments will no longer exist, a role held by Matthew Drennan since last year.

Segmentation: Like insurance in the 80s
A financial services consultant has branded current bank strategies for broker market segmentation like the insurance channel of the 1980s. “Once again the banking channel is doing what the life insurance channel was doing in the 1980’s , working at winning the channel not the end customer.”

Wealth managers tighten belts
IT’S been described as ”the perfect storm” hitting professional wealth managers: market turmoil, regulatory challenges and a flight from investments to the safety of cash. Earnings from life insurance and income protection rose 56 per cent to $215 million, while earnings from AMP’s funds management arm fell slightly to $83 million.

New Specialist Risk Advisory Group Launched
A new advice group delivering specialist life insurance advice to individuals and businesses has been launched. The group, called Risk Advice Specialists, aims to provide appropriate life, trauma and disablement insurance cover for individuals, and to offer advice on life insurance as a component of estate planning and business succession planning.

AIA Australia Improves Claims Experience with Axelerator
Axe Group, a fresh thinking software company, today announced that AIA Australia, a leader in the Australian life insurance industry, has implemented their Axelerator software to deliver online claims functionality to their group insurance clients.

Running for Insurance Cover
Australia is facing a significant crisis. Latest research from Rice Warner shows that the population is underinsured to the tune of $3.1 trillion, and this is costing the Government more than $1.3 billion annually.

Tax incentives in insuring for disability
THERE are two reasons why your super fund is the best vehicle through which you should insure for Total and Permanent Disablement benefit. The first reason applies now and involves paying for any TPD insurance your super fund buys, while the second motivation relates to the tax advantages available for super fund TPD benefits.

Risk Advisers Optimistic About 2012
Risk advisers are optimistic about the coming year, according to a survey commissioned by Zurich’s Life and Investments business.

Omnium Launches Australia’s First Android App for Life Insurance Quotes
Omnium proves its commitment to innovating the life insurance industry by releasing the first Android app to help financial advisers illustrate and compare life insurance.

CommInsure appoints UHG as service partner
CommInsure has appointed Unified Healthcare Group as its medical information service partner for a four year period.

5 Biggest Money Mistakes
Smart money management is not just about building wealth but protecting what you’ve already amassed. Once you have debts and/or dependants, you need, at a minimum, enough life insurance to cover them.

ASIC Bans Former Insurance Company Director
A former insurance company director from South Australia has been permanently banned from providing financial services, according to a statement issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).