Royal London has made changes to its underwriting limits as part of its commitment to grow the high net worth market.
The firm said the changes should make the underwriting journey easier for advisers and their clients.
Changes included the financial evidence for personal life cover (single and joint life first death) increasing from £2mn to £2.5mn.
While the financial information on application as part of its Life Cover (joint life second death) has increased from £2mn-3mn to £2mn-4mn.
Craig Paterson, chief underwriter at Royal London, said: “Financial underwriting remains an important component of higher sum assured business, but the process should support the cover being applied for, not be a barrier to sale.
"The changes we’ve introduced should improve our speed to offer, conversion rates and make Royal London even easier to do business with.
“High net worth clients typically have sophisticated financial needs and are looking for high levels of cover, so it’s vital that our proposition meets their needs and processing their business is as efficient as possible.”
Since the firm bought Aegon UK’s individual protection book in April 2023, Royal London has said it has increased its focus on the large case market.
It also said it has bolstered its specialist team dedicated to supporting advisers with high net worth cases, increasing the overall team by 50 per cent with Mark Preston appointed as service delivery manager.
Last month (March 2024), Royal London launched a discretionary trust form which it said is easier to administer and claim on.
To make things simpler for advisers the new form replaced four existing discretionary trusts, combining them into one.
This means the same form, whether online or paper, can be used for both joint and single life cases, with or without critical illness, with the online journey not requiring signatures from customers, trustees or witnesses.
New features to improve customer outcomes and prevent foreseeable harm were added with the most significant being the addition of co-habitees as beneficiaries.
alina.khan@ft.com
