Austock Life has doubled up on support services for financial advisers, amid increased interest in insurance bonds.

National Sales Manager Tony Gobbo says the life insurance company noted a 20% increase in advisers using insurance bonds last financial year.

“Twenty new advisers are writing bonds each month and an already re-emerging insurance bond market should get a further growth spurt from super’s expected lifetime caps.”

Austock now has an insurance bond book worth $600 million, and has the largest specialist business development manager (BDM) team in Australia to support advisers, he says.

“We have eight BDMs on the road, covering all states, and a strong back office to assist them and more than 150 dealer groups,” he said.

“The big support team is necessary when considered in light of us consistently adding more than 20 new advisers… each month.”

Mr Gobbo says new advisers typically start with ChildBuilder Bonds, then move to writing Austock’s main Imputation Bond as they seek opportunities across their client bases.

“We are constantly researching and evaluating options for advisers with specific client needs,” he said. “This is leading to a broader usage of bonds beyond their traditional savings and tax arbitrage roles. Funding a future event and using insurance bonds to solve issues in estate planning is growing in popularity.”

Mr Gobbo says Austock has upgraded the adviser portal for insurance bonds, enabling advisers to

view client information and manage portfolios.

The upgrade includes a live data feed for day-to-day transactions on all client portfolios, performance analytics, simplified calculators and case studies.