Suncorp-owned Asteron has been named CoreData Life Company of the Year based on satisfaction ratings by advisers who use it as their main life insurance provider.

It is the third year in a row Asteron has won the research house’s award, which drew votes from 1600 advisers.

TAL and BT were runners-up, with Axa and Macquarie receiving commendations.

CoreData Head of Advice Kristen Turnbull says image and reputation was found to be the biggest component driver of adviser satisfaction, combined with sticking to a trusted insurer in times of economic uncertainty.

Advisers assessed the life companies across 10 categories and more than 60 individual service metrics.

CoreData says advisers say they are expecting to write more life insurance business in the next 12 months.

A total of 61% of advisers expect to increase the amount of life insurance written with their main provider, compared to 49% last year.

And almost a third of advisers expect to increase the amount of written business by more than 20%.

This year a quarter of advisers wrote more than $100,000 of new life insurance premiums, up from 21% last year. Research also found 44% of all new business is written inside superannuation.

Advisers are also writing more business online and a third of new life insurance is now written through a platform.

CoreData found the Colonial FirstChoice platform was the most popular (23.3%) followed by OnePath’s OneAnswer (16.3%) and MLC (15.7%).

Ms Turnbull says the figures prove the increased focus on life insurance during the global financial crisis is continuing, and this is offering advisers a viable alternative stream of business to investment advice.

It is also creating opportunities for life companies to grow their business.

“Given the anticipated growth in business being written with main providers, life companies should now be focusing on converting their secondary users into main users, to ensure they benefit from any potential consolidation,” she said.