Almost three in five advisers (57%) state their clients are actively seeking advice on general insurance (GI), with over half of that group saying they’ve noticed an increase in demand within the last 12 months.
This is based on new research from GI solutions provider Paymentshield’s annual Adviser Survey, conducted in July/August 2023 with 526 advisers.
45% of advisers also say that GI has become a more important source of income for them, and – with 64% saying they’re worried about the overall state of the market and their ability to write mortgages – it’s more important than ever before that they sell it.
Despite this, almost three in five advisers (57%) say they sometimes miss opportunities to sell GI – a statistic largely consistent with Paymentshield’s Adviser Survey findings from the previous three years.
Once again, remortgage and product transfer clients represent a significant cohort with whom the GI conversation is not taken up, with one in five advisers saying they rarely or never discuss GI with these clients.
This is especially concerning this year, when residential product transfers were identified by one third (33%) of advisers as seeing the largest growth in sales in the past 12 months – over six times more than in 2022.
This is the single biggest growth area identified by advisers by a considerable margin, with the next highest being residential mortgages at 19%.
Emma Green, Director of Distribution at Paymentshield, comments: “It’s clear from the findings that GI advice is growing in importance both in the eyes of advisers and consumers, which is great to see. Advisers know they should be discussing GI and recognise the value in doing so, but some are still missing the opportunity – especially among remortgage and product transfer customers, who we know represent the biggest share of mortgage transactions this year.
“Missing out on these opportunities is undoubtedly exacerbated this year by market conditions which are making life more difficult for advisers, coupled with new demands on advisers’ time in the form of navigating the new Consumer Duty requirements.”
Nonetheless, the overwhelmingly majority of advisers (9 in 10) state that it is best practice to discuss GI with every client, and the same amount (9 in 10) regard a GI conversation as an important part of their new Consumer Duty responsibilities.
Over 7 in 10 firms (73%) do not have a GI specialist in place, meaning that for most, advisers are picking up the GI conversation with their clients alongside their other advised conversations.
Emma Green adds: “We recently launched our new referral option to support those advisers struggling with time by enabling them to refer that GI discussion over to us. They can be reassured they’re still offering their client the standard of support they want to offer.
“Where advisers are quoting themselves, I’d really encourage them to quote clients early and lock the price in before any rate changes. We recognise that in the current market, advisers are often repeatedly speaking to their mortgage customers in the run up to completion, as mortgage rates continue to fluctuate. Our quotes are valid for six months, so advisers don’t need to worry about having wasted their time by incorporating GI into that first discussion.”
The full Adviser Survey report is available to view here: https://www.paymentshield.co.uk/survey-results
