Axa may scrap the need for client signatures on insurance policy documents so applications can be received electronically.
Axa general manager retail and wholesale operations Dean Robertson said he was examining the compliance and legal ramifications of the move.
If it went ahead, Axa would join Aviva in delivering a signature free offering. Aviva’s online insurance tool Riskfirst, which was rolled out in May, does not require a customer signature.
Robertson said he would halve the average time it takes between clients signing a life insurance application to receiving their policy to 30 days by December.
Increased use of telephone underwriting, e-mailing documents and a “clean skin” application sorting process will be used, advisers at an event in Sydney yesterday were told.
“The improvements in new business process and day-to-day servicing are key deliverables that we will continue to work on to improve service for your customers,” Robertson said.
The “clean skin” trial involves the identification of applications that do not need any underwriting, so they can be processed the same day.
Eight per cent of applications Axa receives are treated as “clean skins”, a figure Robertson plans to increase.
Axa also announced 30 upgrades to its individual insurance solution.
They include a trauma reinstatement option, double trauma recovery insurance option, double total and permanent disability (TPD) option and life and TPD improvements for homemakers
Axa was named the 2006 Life Insurance Company of the Year and won the 2006 Trauma Product of the Year in the Plan for Life and Association of Financial Advisers awards.
