UV Insurance has launched a simplified issue process for term life insurance.
Immediate Underwriting is the latest in the line of simplified programs that the Drummondville-based mutual insurance company released in spring 2020. Available on the My Universe electronic platform, Immediate Underwriting lets clients obtain a decision in minutes, with no need for help from an underwriter, and without medical exams or tele-interviews.
The immediate underwriting process applies to all of the insurer's term life products. Once the immediate underwriting decision is made, an electronic policy in the Superior Term+ line can be issued in less than 48 hours, UV Insurance says. The offer includes additional term coverage, including the Credit Insurance Rider.
The amount of coverage available varies depending on the client's age and the product they choose. The maximum amount of insurance available under immediate underwriting is $499,999. Policyholders aged 18 to 45 can access immediate underwriting for amounts of insurance ranging from $150,001 to $499,999 in T10, T20 or T30. The maximum is $350,000 for ages 46 to 55, and $250,000 for ages 56 to 65. Note that the T-30 insurance product is available only to clients 55 and under.
Another building block
Two UV Insurance top managers, Guillaume Fauteux, Vice President, Business Development and Marketing for Individual Insurance and Investment-Retirement and Christian Mercier, President and CEO, gave Insurance Portal an exclusive interview to discuss the new release. The VP explained that immediate underwriting is a logical extension of the insurer's shift toward the simplified issue process.
“We build in blocks, of which My Universe was the first,” Fauteux says. It is also the foundation for UV Insurance's new digital products. The platform combines illustration software, e-applications and e-signature with portals for advisors and clients. “It lets advisors close sales and track cases in a fully digital environment, whether it's simplified issue or regular rate insurance. The system is very agile,” he adds.
A filter rather than a product
Fauteux considers UV Insurance's approach unique. “Most insurers launch a new simplified issue product, whereas we apply a simplified issue filter to our existing products.” In addition to immediate underwriting, UV Insurance launched guaranteed issue, instant issue and express issue in 2020. That was the second block, the VP explains. “Since last year, our products are 100% simplified issue, up to $150,000 of insurance. With immediate underwriting, we are raising the limit.”
Fauteux compares immediate underwriting to “an underwriter at your fingertips”. Depending on how they answer the questions, insured will be able to obtain a regular rate premium or an additional premium for insurance amounts ranging from $150,000 to $499,999. “Our clients can immediately get the closest decision possible to what an underwriter would have made.”
No one leaves empty-handed
If the client does not qualify for immediate underwriting, the application is automatically transferred to the lowest threshold of simplified underwriting that applies to term insurance: express underwriting. They can then purchase up to $150,000 of coverage. “The innovation for us is that the product is not just positioned for healthy or uninsurable people. We don't want people to walk away empty-handed.”
In addition, the Credit Insurance Rider offers a 2-year and 5-year term in immediate underwriting, but only the 2-year term is available in express issue. “Our goal was to go after the needs related to the mortgage market,” says Fauteux. This offer is intended to help advisors compete with banks.
Four out of five advisors use digital
The first block of My Universe emerged one month late due to the pandemic. Then came the learning curve for the insurer’s partners. “We delivered several support and training activities,” Fauteux adds.
He says he has exceeded his targets. Now, more than 80 percent of applications submitted to UV Insurance are digital. “There has been a steady growth in the volume of these applications since we launched the platform last year. This adoption rate is major given that in terms of new business, on April 26, 2020, we went from being 100% paper to 100% digital. In terms of both volume and premium, we are also seeing vigorous organic growth.”
Major digital transformation
Christian Mercier says that the launch is part of the major technological shift that the company has been making in recent years. He calls 2021 a milestone year in terms of transformation. “We will complete all of our technology initiatives.”
The timing of this transformation is perfect, Mercier says. “The pandemic forced a seismic shift in the entire industry, and we were already making major technological progress. We decided to carry out our digital transformation a few years ago, and the pandemic proved us right,” he says. At the rate technology is advancing, UV Insurance could not have done the same thing if it had started today, he underlines.
This type of transformation requires high-performance, secure tools, Mercier continues. “This is truer than ever given what the industry is going through right now. The security element was very important in our approach.”
The transformation will allow UV Insurance to act quickly and influence the distribution network, Mercier adds. The insurer wants to strongly support advisors in their dealings with clients. “We were able to carry out this transformation in a comprehensive way. That will set us apart in the years to come.”
Putting the last pieces in place
A little over a year ago, UV Insurance turned to Equisoft to integrate OIPA (Oracle Insurance Policy Administrator) to replace its old policy administration system. Mercier describes this shift as a significant one for an insurance company. He believes he is one of the few companies in Canada to have made this change.
The insurer then acquired M@gik-Net to replace its group insurance administrative systems. “This project started a year and a half ago and will be completed next fall,” says Mercier. When UV Insurance acquired M@gik-Net, it let the firm operate independently, and appointed Marc Giguère to run it. He has since left, and has not been replaced. “The management of M@gik-Net has been integrated with that of UV Insurance and we do not intend to fill the position of general manager in the short term.”
UV Insurance's decades-old accounting system was another issue: It no longer had vendor technical support so it could not be upgraded. “We can't extract data from this system in an intelligent way. For the past few months, we've been transitioning to the Workday solution,” Mercier adds. “It will generate reports and tools to help us make decisions. The replacement of the old system should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022. Following this latest technology initiative, we can claim that UV Insurance will be highly technological on all fronts.”
...In time for IFRS 17
This transition to an intelligent accounting system is all the more necessary because in two years, insurers will have to contend with the new international accounting standards for insurance contracts (IFRS 7), he adds. Scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2023, IFRS 17 requires “a complete overhaul of the company's accounting charter.” Mercier says that switching to a new accounting system before this date will save efforts, especially given that 2022 will be a test phase for the new system.
