Norwich Union – the UK’s largest life insurer – today started communicating its total commitment to the industry Raising Standards Initiative in a briefing document being sent out to key IFAs and business partnerships.
Norwich Union – the UK’s largest life insurer – today started communicating its total commitment to the industry Raising Standards Initiative in a briefing document being sent out to key IFAs and business partnerships.
The briefing document explains what the initiative means for Norwich Union and also the IFA industry and also it's importance in instilling greater consumer confidence in the life assurance industry.
The Raising Standards Initiative will help to ensure that consumers have a better and clearer understanding of the products they are buying through Norwich Union delivering on three key promises of:
Greater clarity and comparability of information through:
- Simpler and clearer key features and illustrations
- Simpler and clearer post sale information
- More informative annual statements
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Ensuring appropriateness of the products purchased through:
- Extending the cooling-off period for most products to 30 days (excluding annuities and pension transfers)
- New layouts of key features and illustrations to allow easier comparison of products
- A first class complaints handling procedure
Better customer service through:
- More contact information to allow customers to get in touch when and however it suits them
- A regular customer satisfaction survey to ensure service meets the benchmark for accreditation
Commenting on the Raising Standards Initiative, Peter Hales, sales & marketing director for Norwich Union, said: “The Raising Standards Initiative is a major step forward for the industry and Norwich Union in helping to strengthen consumer confidence - this will be good news for IFAs, product providers and ultimately the customer.
“We have invested considerable time and resources in ensuring we met the submission deadlines for first wave accreditation. By combining our product range, service, investment performance and added value services for IFAs, together with the Raising Standards Quality Mark, we will have a market-leading package. ”
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Notes to editors:
- CGU plc and Norwich Union plc merged on 30 May 2000 to create CGNU plc, the UK’s largest insurance group and one of the top-five insurers in Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the world, making it the world’s sixth largest insurer based on gross worldwide premiums.
- CGNU’s principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide premium income and retail investment sales from ongoing business of over Ł27 billion and assets under management of more than Ł210 billion.
- From October 2000, the combined life and pensions, general insurance and retail fund management businesses in the UK operate under the Norwich Union brand, while the institutional investment business operates under the Morley Fund Management brand.
- Norwich Union’s news releases are available on this website.