Insurance consumers will continue to work with financial advisors in the future, but they will want digital solutions at their fingertips 24/7 to top up this advisory offer, Sun Life says.

Sun Life CEO Dean Connor outlined the insurer’s mission during a conference call with financial analysts to announce its Q1 2020 results.

The insurer extended its underwriting model by using artificial intelligence, Connor explained. As a result, Sun Life can cover larger insurance amounts using this tool, reducing the need for medical samples that were difficult to obtain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The acceleration of everything digital from how we advise clients to how we sell, to how we provide solutions, pay claims and provide service will be a permanent benefit coming out of the crisis…Most of our retail clients will still want to work with advisors, but advisor productivity and effectiveness will be turbocharged through data, digital and analytics. At Sun Life, we’ve invested a lot to digitize our business. With industry-leading technology in many areas, we will leverage this time to further accelerate the development and adoption of everything digital,” Connor says.

Canada to follow the trend

Sun Life boasts a strong presence in Canada, the United States and Asia. Digital technology will be pivotal to Sun Life’s strategy in Canada, as in other countries, said Jacques Goulet, President, Sun Life Financial Canada.

“Clients are worried, they want to engage and they want to talk to their advisors. This is certainly a time where the value of advice – the value of having a trusted person to help you navigate is very strong. So, we’re using Zoom a lot to replace face-to-face. Essentially, our advisors today can sit down with their client and go from, what I would call, A to Z, so identification of needs, doing a financial plan, all the way to fulfilling of the products. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve continued to see good sales through April,” Goulet adds.

The insurer points out that its individual insurance sales volume in April represented approximately 80% and 90% of prior year’s sales. The proportion was the same for wealth sales.

Dean Connor commented that Sun Life had digital tools in place for a couple of years in Canada, including e-signature. All this preparation eased the insurer’s fast transition of its sales force to digital mode, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

BY HUBERT ROY & AURÉLIA MORVAN