Skandia has re-entered the critical illness market with a 56-condition product aimed at high net worth clients.
The product includes 18 ABI+ standard conditions and children's cover that begins at birth and protects some congenital conditions until age 21; clients with joint life plans will receive double pay-out per child.
The CI product is also offers Serious Accident Benefit. Clients will receive a partial pay-out of up to £25,000 following an accident that has caused severe injury and immediate hospitalisation for 28 consecutive days.
The product is available with Skandia's rolling term assurance and the provider has also renewed availability on its whole of life plan.
Ian Jefferies, head of protection at Skandia, said: "Many advisers are re-prioritising protection following the RDR and want more product choices for their clients. We are not interested in adding conditions for the sake of it. We operate in the high net worth market and in that clients want high quality rather than price.
He added while the focus was on high net worth client there was still a place in the market for the other end that focused on lower price.
John Davidson, PMI and protection specialist at IFA Ringrose Grimsley, said of the new product: "The market was originally set up to cover heart cancer and stroke. If you want to create products that are simpler and fairer for consumer understanding then adding more complexity and features does not really help."
But Alan Lakey, partner principal at Highclere Financial Services and founder of CIExpert, said Skandia's return with its triple approach - CI, ten-year rolling term and whole of life - was very welcome.
He said: "The whole of life option is the only one available in today's market and is also a guaranteed plan whereby premiums can never be reviewed.
"The plan is very comprehensive with market leading claims definitions and is positioned towards the top of the CIExpert comparative tables."
