There can be various valid but unavoidable reasons why this might happen, such as a customer being declined or incurring a rating, being outside the age range for a product or because their occupation isn’t covered. This means that customers who’d otherwise have been unable to secure cover will now be able to do so.
A dedicated Central Advice Unit has been set up to manage and help advisers through the referral process.
They will talk to adviser’s customers and offer the best alternative from a panel of providers including AXA, BUPA and Bright Grey for Term and Critical Illness, UNUM for Income Protection and Partnership for customers who may be declined life cover. It will also includes price matching, plus an increased and diversified product range.
Legal & General has included an additional range of products that advisers can offer to their clients such as Smoothmove, offered by Inter Partner Assistance, High Net Worth Household cover through Stirling, one of the leading specialist providers of household insurance to the mid and high net worth market and most recently, Private Medical Cover offered by BUPA.
BUPA is the leading provider in this market and Legal & General will be able to sell BUPA’s ClientChoice product, the leading intermediated Private Medical Insurance Cover.
Duncan Crocker, managing director, Legal & General Network, said: “This is another great development for our network. The referral process combined with our extended product range and price match now offers a more complete proposition that gives both choice and flexibility.
"We now have a solution for advisers in circumstances when in the past they may have had no alternative option to offer a customer. The combination of all parts of the proposition means advisers can now feel confident they have the right tools in place that will help them look after their existing customers and gives them reasons to talk to and attract new ones.
"It means a more complete service for our customers and this high calibre offering together with a great consumer brand and huge financial strength will hopefully attract advisers in what is still a very turbulent sector”.
Owen Magill, from Mortgage Group Northern Ireland (MGNI) said: “The referral panel has been an extremely important and welcomed extension to the AR Network proposition. It provides advisers with the comfort of having a Plan B and lets us have access to being able to earn important income where previously this would have been lost. In today’s competitive world this is exceptionally important from a customer as well as an adviser retention perspective and we warmly welcome being able to offer this facility to all our customers."
