Unum has urged advisers to join it in targeting the ‘underserved' SME market to grow their income protection (IP) business.
It also believes there are growth opportunities in both the individual and group IP markets, but said its decision to leave the individual sector came down to available investment cash.
The provider revealed yesterday that it was closing its individual business today, with only the employer funded Executive plan still available.
Tim Jackson, head of marketing strategy at Unum, told COVER that the individual IP business was profitable but the market was becoming increasingly price driven.
"For us to continue to be profitable we would need to be investing in IT and other equivalent areas," he said.
"So it's a case of looking at that business and making investment decisions with a choice between two things.
"We don't have unlimited funds to invest in all the growth opportunities, so we're going where we think there is the bigger one and it's the one that aligns with the majority and scale of our business.
"It made more sense to go after the large growth opportunity we believe there is in workplace and group based business," he added.
As part of the announcement, Unum revealed it is planning to arrange partnerships with advisers who wish to deepen their work in the group IP sector, particularly involving SMEs.
Jackson confirmed this would be open to all IFAs, regardless of whether they had previously dealt with Unum or not.
"I think a lot of those details will be worked out as we go through the process going forward and the first port of call will be talking to networks and IFAs who also think there is an opportunity there," he said.
"If we look at market currently serving small businesses, yes there are some advisers and adviser groups who specialise in SMEs, but they're comparatively few.
"So it's a comparatively underserved market and if we take a look at it from the advisers' point of view - in the world of RDR when everyone is looking for new revenue sources and ways of doing business, what better opportunity to go after than to potentially larger scale products than perhaps they are used to," he added.
Jackson also denied that it was a risky strategy to focus strongly on one product area.
"We've been in GIP for a long period of time and it's a market where we see a significant growth opportunity," he said.
"Saying it's all our eggs in one basket suggests it's not likely to work, but if you look at the sheer scale that is available in the workplace, as soon as you explain to a HR manager the advantages to the business of having IP and also to their employees of getting IP through work, you can see reaction.
"When only one in ten has the product and it's demonstrable that vastly more than that should have it, we believe the workplace is the best place to close that gap," he added.
Jackson also revealed restructuring was taking place at the business and suggested the individual market had significant room for growth too.
