MLC Life Insurance is proud to be part of the Choice and Access to Life Insurance (CALI) campaign that has today released a new whitepaper on the challenges facing the Australian life insurance industry.

The whitepaper, which is based on research carried out by NMG Consulting, provides valuable insights into the current state of industry, including:

• trends in the Australian market, across all channels
• the effects of recent regulatory change
• consumer attitudes towards insurance.

It also compares and contrasts the Australian experience with that in international markets, noting several unique features of the Australian market and how the direction being taken here differs with that overseas.

The whitepaper explains there has been significant regulatory disruption to the life insurance landscape, which has resulted in increasing rates of underinsurance as access to life insurance through banks, direct from insurers, through superannuation funds and financial advisers becoming more limited. Furthermore, if governments and regulators fail to act, then access to advised life insurance will become more expensive.

Commenting on the whitepaper, Rodney Cook, Chief Executive Officer, MLC Life Insurance said “Consumer interests have to come first. Access to quality and affordable financial advice and advised life insurance is a great benefit to Australians, and we as a community must ensure that access to it remains within the reach of the many, rather than just the few.”

The CALI whitepaper builds on similar research undertaken by MLC Life Insurance in 2019 where we examined the cost and efficiency of life insurance.