Mr Brown told InvestorDaily that life insurance is overwhelmingly “sold not bought”, but with parts of the advice industry moving more closely to holistic advice it will become an easier product to sell to clients.
“I think it comes down to getting to a more holistic advice model,” Mr Brown said. “At the moment there are some advisers that look more towards investments; some specialise in life insurance, and others in some other elements of financial planning.
“But as they become more holistic, life insurance is considered more and becomes easier to sell.”
Mr Brown said that while the direct insurance model is seeing increasing take-up, it is still important that advisers have a role in explaining different policies and benefits to customers.
Overall, while underinsurance is narrowing yearly, the current take up of life insurance is not significant enough to address the issue, he continued.
“I think underinsurance is narrowing by a slight amount for each year that life insurance grows,” Mr Brown said.
“So last year it grew by roughly 10 per cent but a lot of that growth would be stepped premiums going up or collateral protection insurance.
“There isn’t a lot of growth in net new customers so while underinsurance is narrowing a little bit there is still a lot of room to go.”
