Nicola Culley gets some straight talking from Louise Colley, Aviva's head of protection sales and marketing.
‘There was definitely a push but the reality for G-Day was just a lot of hype," Louise Colley, head of protection sales and marketing at Aviva, stated matter-of-factly. This was just one forthright opinion in a lively interview.
Her signature boldness was unwavering as she covered off some of the most-talked-about issues of the day including: the notable lack of protection business among generalist IFAs; "pointless" FSA commission review assumptions; mushrooming and unnecessary critical illness definitions; not-so-simple products; and the FSA's Mortgage Market Review (MMR).
In discussions on gender neutralisation, Colley suggested there had been no significant trends that could clearly illustrate gender-specific rushing prior to the deadline.
She said: "Everyone asked if we had seen an increase or drop in sales. I suppose there was more pushing from some advisers, but that time of year gets busy anyway and sales fluctuate all the time.
"There was definitely a push in the industry but what was the reality? It was all just a lot of hype. We were extremely busy last month but we always see increases in December."
But what of the insurers that had reported a sales increase? Colley said for those that had seen a sales surge it was "great", but only if the momentum continued beyond.
"If you were an adviser and going out to promote gender then that was fantastic. Gender has had a significant impact on the industry and on all of us. But the reality is, while it is not going to change the landscape of protection sales, if it gets people talking about it that is a good thing," Colley said.
"If providers saw big increases then let's hope that momentum carries on into next year."
What Colley noted throughout the re-pricing period was many advisers questioning if the industry did enough to stop gender neutralisation going through. But she doubted more could have been done, given it was enforced by higher powers.
When asked about the rumblings in the industry around the same happening to age and disability, Colley simply said she would not comment.
In other industry murmurings, what does Colley make of a potential commission review on protection?
