Gillian O'Keeffe and David Waters of Pacific Life Re preview their IFoA Conference 2023 presentation on inclusivity in the insurance industry.
‘Right to be forgotten’ legislation has been introduced to life insurance across many European markets. It has served as a catalyst for a perhaps overdue reflection on how the protection industry in the UK and Ireland treats those who have had cancer. However, while cancer is the condition currently under the microscope, does this represent just the beginning? Peering down the rabbit hole, our work on inclusivity in the insurance industry took us on a journey exploring inclusion more generally. We looked at a variety of other medical conditions and the age-old societal challenges regarding gender inequality.
Zeroing in first on medical conditions, we visited both commonly disclosed conditions and those less common. Our aim was to explore customer perception versus reality with regards to how our industry treats those with historical medical conditions. Wanting a complete end-to-end picture, we followed this experience through the lifetime of the policy, from entry to exit. We started with the application form, through the underwriting and pricing processes, and ended ultimately at the point of claim.
But why stop there? We finished up looking into protected characteristics such as sex and sexual orientation to scrutinise inclusivity in our industry across all segments of population. Some characteristics can be difficult to analyse due to data limitations. But sex is widely available in most datasets. The information allowed us to study why the female population is underinsured and hypothesise on what can we do as an industry to improve this.
This is an important and fundamental topic to discuss at a cross-functional event. It’s a topic that impacts anyone who is looking to protect their income or assets, whether now or in the future. As an industry we rightly celebrate growth in the market, with even single-digit growth cause for recognition. In such a mature and established market, it follows that the untapped growth opportunities come from the underserved populations. This neatly aligns both societal and financial incentives for us to ensure our protection products are designed and sold with inclusivity at the forefront of our mind.
Don’t miss Gillian and David at the IFoA Conference 2023 on Monday 26 June at 15:50. Learn more at: IFoA Conference.
