Defaqto has called the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) ruling to ban gender based pricing as "probably the biggest change to affect the life and protection industry for a long time."
However the product rating business believes that although the decision has "enormous implications" it provides opportunites for advisers.
Ben Heffer, insight analyst for protection at Defaqto, noted the significance of the changes to protection and annuities markets.
"This is probably the biggest change to affect the UK life and protection industry for a long time and the implications are enormous," he said.
"It will be interesting to see how insurers respond and whether they move to equalise rates sooner than 2012. But the changes aren't straight forward and they present a number of challenges, and also opportunities, for advisers. On the one hand, advisers will need to support their clients' understanding of the likely product changes.
"At the same time, however, clients may need to reassess the products they have which creates an opening for advisers to provide the necessary advice and guidance," he added.
Heffer also recognised that this could present significant problems for clients with long-held policies.
"Customers whose health has deteriorated or who are significantly older than they were when they took out their cover may not be in the position to buy new policies and may have to stay with the rate they have. The role of advisers will be as essential as ever to help them with this."
