Up to one in five of adviser firms may have missed out on extra sales, through failure to market the gender directive, according to the Protection Review.
The industry body said that, although the protection sector has seen providers report record sales in the lead up to G Day, it believed the market could have increased sales by another 20%, if communication between providers, the ABI, trade bodies and advisers were better and if the process was percieved to be less complex.
Approximately a fifth of advisers polled by the protection Review have either said:
• they saw G-day as a gimmick and didn't want to mention it to clients for fear of been seen to be gimmicky or salesy
• that it was all a storm in teacup and rates wouldn't change much
• or that providers simply made it too complex by offering an array of different rules, dates and processes.
Kevin Carr, chief executive of the Protection review, commented: "Too many advisers backed off, due to either perceived complications or a lack of understanding of how important G Day would be and its major effect on pricing - and how wrong they were.
"Roughly one in five did not get involved in marketing protection sales in light of the Gender Directive.
"This was an opportunity lost for both a lot of advisers and a lot of customers, who could have benefited from much needed protection at a lower price."
