Berkeley Alexander, in partnership with Canopius, has launched a modular policy for personal accident (PA), income protection or mortgage or rent protection, SafeGuard Protect, in the case of accident, sickness or job loss.
The product is made up of three standalone modules: PA, mortgage or rent protection and income protection.
For PA, this pays policyholders a lump sum after a bodily injury, and the mortgage or rent protection pays monthly, with four different benefit levels available depending on payment cost.
Income protection also has four levels of cover depending on gross monthly income.
The product, which is only available through intermediaries, can be accessed in one go with a combined online quote and buy process, or one or two modules can be selected.
Speaking to this publication, Geoff Hall (pictured), chair of Berkeley Alexander, said that whether the all-in-one option or select modules will be selected by intermediaries would “vary massively”, but he suspected the mortgage protection module would be the “most attractive” as its main market was IFAs and mortgage brokers.
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“I suspect what we’ll find in the buying behaviour of the agents is they’ll probably start off ticking the maximum covers that can be bought, and then when they then look at the price some of them might then start to roll back a little bit and… find a balancing point where the clients getting the right cover put a price they prepared to pay,” he said.
Hall said the company has designed the system so it was “easy for them to play with the cover levels on one page”.
The product can be tailored to each customer’s needs, with five levels of cover for PA available and up to £2,000 cover per month for mortgage, rent and income protection.
Hall said that the standard commission for the product was 25% paid on a monthly non-indemnity basis, but as part of its launch for policies initiated in 2024, then the commission would be 30% for the first 12 months and revert to 25% at renewal.
He added that the premiums are not aged-banded or occupation-rated, so it was the “same premium for every client for that type of cover”, and there was a lot of choice and flexibility in the policies and the price paid.
Hall said: “We are delighted and proud to be launching a modern, flexible PA and ASU product. We have seen an increasing demand of late from agents seeking protection products that are competitive and compliant and meet the needs of clients today.
“With a continuing uncertain economic outlook, our protection product is hitting the market just at the right time. SafeGuard Protect will give much needed cover and certainty for many people.
“For years, following both the PPI scandals of the past and more recently Covid, insurers understandably retreated from ASU, withdrawing from new sales of unemployment cover during Covid, but these protection products are vital. It has been a long time in the making, but with a combination of persistence and hard work, and thanks to our reputation and expertise in the market, we are delighted that Canopius has chosen to partner with Berkeley Alexander to bring these exciting new products to market.”
David Swan, head of specialist consumer products at Canopius, added: “We specialise in designing tailor-made products for our partners like Berkeley Alexander that create innovative solutions for customers.
“With our passion for always ensuring people get the right specialist cover and protection they need, combined with Berkeley Alexander’s heritage in the intermediary market, it was an ideal partnership. We are confident that Safeguard Protect will prove to be a very popular and valuable offering for intermediaries and their clients.”
