Paul Avis: A short guide to group risk - support services

As an industry, group insurers tend to hide their light under a bushel. While service, product terms and conditions, medical underwriting, Financial Ombudsman Service referral volumes and upheld rates and so on all play a part in an adviser's choice of which contract to purchase from which insurer, is this what the customer really wants? To put it another way, the financial payments on death, disability or being diagnosed with a serious condition are how the insurers are currently understood to add value but there has been a repositioning of them as service providers as well as insurers....