Canada Life continues to make changes to its New Business Now platform. The insurer says the most recent round of enhancements will speed up underwriting and make sure that the application collects complete information.

The insurer has disabled the copy and paste option for the email fields in the pages that deal with preferences, addresses for owner or future notifications, and advisor information. "In several cases, web applications are stopping in specific sections of the application. We’ve found that this is usually because an email address has been copied and pasted instead of typed into New Business Now," explains Canada Life. “In these situations this stopped users from moving through the rest of the application. Email addresses must now be typed into web application instead of copying and pasting. This ensures valid email addresses are used.”

Underwriting questions have also been updated for certain medical impairments so that, in some cases, there will now be fewer questions asked when completing an application. If a client has a medical impairment related to blurred vision or a visual disturbance, a persistent cough or pleurisy, a numbness or tingling, a loss of sensation, or a mental health issue, the application will now generate a separate questionnaire. "This enhancement should help lead to more straight-through processing cases and create increased opportunities for instant decisions," says the insurer.

Finally, family history questionnaires have been changed to ensure that clients only provide information about their biological relatives. If clients do not know their family medical history, Canada Life says they will now be able select an answer that explains why they don't know these details, for example because they were adopted or have no contact with their families.