Cheltenham, UK 30 January 2020 –

iPipeline® – a leading provider of next-generation solutions and services to the life and pensions market – today announced it has partnered with Protection Guru®* to launch a market-changing service that allows advisers to compare products on quality as well as price.

The new service allows advisers to create a ‘Product Features Report’ via SolutionBuilder®, iPipeline’s protection sourcing tool. The report makes it easier for advisers to better understand and compare product features based on quality, not just price.

The Product Features Report:

• Can be used for Income Protection, Level Term Life Insurance, Decreasing Term Life Insurance, Critical Illness Cover and Business Protection. Features may differ depending on the products selected.
• Compares up to five products at one time.
• Supports a maximum of 10 features per comparison, such as GP access, counselling, fracture cover and second medical opinion services**. These are based on Protection Guru’s data on the most frequently selected features.
• Is available for Joint Lives on a single benefit basis only.
• Provides feature ratings via Protection Guru including the detailed analysis of policy conditions conducted by an independent panel of medical practitioners.
• Is downloadable and printable.

The report shows each product feature with a score and a colour-coded bar so an adviser can quickly understand which policy best supports each feature.

The partnership with Protection Guru means the contents of the report are accurate and have gone through a stringent benchmarking process. iPipeline has also been supported by Aviva, Legal & General and Royal London in the development of the new tool.

Paul Yates, Product Strategy Director at iPipeline, said: “As consumers we are increasingly bombarded with choices. While this is generally positive, it can make life more complicated as it can be hard to know how to make the right purchase. We are seeing this in the protection world with the plethora of different features available with each product. Up to now, it has been a chore for advisers to compare and document, on a like for like basis the quality of each product feature.

“This is why we have partnered with Protection Guru to make the quality conversation easier, as a core part of SolutionBuilder. Our new Product Features Report allows advisers to compare product features on quality as well as price at the right moment in their journey. Our aim is to make the process simple for advisers and to help their clients get the best possible outcome.”  

Ian McKenna, Protection Guru Founder, said: “Since the introduction of the Insurance Distribution Directive in October 2018, anyone offering life insurance, both advised and non-advised, has had a regulatory obligation to consider the overall suitability of protection products rather than just give a price comparison. Since the implementation of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime in December, responsibility for addressing this requirement now falls to any person covered under SM&CR.

“Not only does the new iPipeline service provide a single solution that addresses suitability considering price and quality, but it is also the only such service to include an independent panel of medical practitioners as part of the process for critical illness cover.”

Paul Shearman, Mortgage & Protection Proposition Director, Openwork, said: “The introduction of comparing product features alongside price in one place is an exciting addition to the protection conversation. The range of benefits included within products are ever broader as providers seek to differentiate their products, but individual benefits are often overlooked or misunderstood. The comparison of the features along with price is long overdue in the market and I believe will be a massive help to advisers in determining the right solution for their clients. I am convinced it will be well received by advisers.”