A financial titan is now addressing advisor concerns over its move to work more closely with professionals licensed to sell creditor insurance
Manulife Bank announced last week that it’s getting into the mortgage broker channel worrying insurance advisors concerned it was making an end-run around their term life coverage. But Manulife is now moving to address those concerns – or rather, to dispel them.
“I’m a huge supporter of the independent advice channel. I spent a ton of my career at Dundee Wealth and am very familiar with the plight of advisors; I also was a mortgage broker from 1991 to 2012,” Jeff Spencer, vice president, retail sales, Manulife Bank and Trust told LHP. “We’re definitely not looking to step on the toes of our partners. We’re really trying to make sure that we’re a partner to each of those groups [mortgage brokers and insurance advisors] going forward where we are supporting the growth of independent advice giving.”
Our article from last week wondered if Manulife’s move into the mortgage broker channel would take some term life business away from independent insurance advisors who’ve managed to generate good revenue from home buyers looking for protection beyond what creditor insurance products might offer.
Spencer is quick to point out that times have changed when it comes to the creditor coverage available today.
“There certainly are a lot of misconceptions about creditor coverage in the marketplace. Having been an advisor it was normal to talk down creditor coverage mainly because of the focus in making sure that the client had ownership over their policy and fully underwritten and so on,” said Spencer. “The creditor space has been changing. Clients are for the most part underwritten through the process. If you look at the MPP offering today that can actually carry with you to a different lender which is different from what we might have faced 10 to 20 years ago.”
Whether it be creditor insurance or term life the only thing that matters is that clients be given choice.
“At the end of the day we’re definitely a proponent of the client having the right type of insurance that’s right for their particular situation,” said Spencer. “We’re proactively letting advisors know when the client is expressing interest in creditor coverage; we’re actually trying to expand our grace period on our creditor coverage so that a client can get into it and make sure they have coverage when that debt’s needed but still have time to go and sit with their advisor and make sure they’ve got an opportunity to have whatever’s right for them and in some cases it might be creditor coverage based on it being a little easier to qualify at the time given their health situation, etc.
“It’s a debate that will probably go on forever.”
“I’m a huge supporter of the independent advice channel. I spent a ton of my career at Dundee Wealth and am very familiar with the plight of advisors; I also was a mortgage broker from 1991 to 2012,” Jeff Spencer, vice president, retail sales, Manulife Bank and Trust told LHP. “We’re definitely not looking to step on the toes of our partners. We’re really trying to make sure that we’re a partner to each of those groups [mortgage brokers and insurance advisors] going forward where we are supporting the growth of independent advice giving.”
Our article from last week wondered if Manulife’s move into the mortgage broker channel would take some term life business away from independent insurance advisors who’ve managed to generate good revenue from home buyers looking for protection beyond what creditor insurance products might offer.
Spencer is quick to point out that times have changed when it comes to the creditor coverage available today.
“There certainly are a lot of misconceptions about creditor coverage in the marketplace. Having been an advisor it was normal to talk down creditor coverage mainly because of the focus in making sure that the client had ownership over their policy and fully underwritten and so on,” said Spencer. “The creditor space has been changing. Clients are for the most part underwritten through the process. If you look at the MPP offering today that can actually carry with you to a different lender which is different from what we might have faced 10 to 20 years ago.”
Whether it be creditor insurance or term life the only thing that matters is that clients be given choice.
“At the end of the day we’re definitely a proponent of the client having the right type of insurance that’s right for their particular situation,” said Spencer. “We’re proactively letting advisors know when the client is expressing interest in creditor coverage; we’re actually trying to expand our grace period on our creditor coverage so that a client can get into it and make sure they have coverage when that debt’s needed but still have time to go and sit with their advisor and make sure they’ve got an opportunity to have whatever’s right for them and in some cases it might be creditor coverage based on it being a little easier to qualify at the time given their health situation, etc.
“It’s a debate that will probably go on forever.”
