Technology will help the financial industry become more effective. An insurance application may used to take 2 weeks for underwriting to be completed. It may just take less than 15 mins for an application and approved in today’s environment with an iPad. Do we need that speed? Is that speed of business useful or healthy?
In a life insurance application, I always let my clients to complete the application form themselves especially on the medical questionnaire. They can check with me if they are unsure how to fill in th details but it has to be ticked and answered by them. Most of you will know I’m quite into Technology and I am a strong advocate to FinTech that helps our business. However, there are time that I am from the old school. One example, as mentioned, filling of application forms.
If you have been reading my previous post, you will know I met this referral with the application form below. She had a medical condition that was not mentioned at the point of application and the insurance company has the right to reject any claims in future due to non-disclosure.
The question here is – Who was the one who selected “No” as the answer? Was it the agent or the applicant? No forgetting the claim may come in 2, 10 or even 20 years later. Will both parties remember the scene of application?
If this was a hardcopy application, it will be clear to know if the declaration was made by the agent or applicant from the handwriting.
Personally, I hate to defend with a statement like “oh, you signed on it so you should know.”
As more and more insurers move into online application, I am still sticking to manual and I hope I will have that choice in future.
My IFA@Sg 