Life insurers will hold a meeting with four Australian universities on Thursday about a longitudinal study of life insurance customers. 

Senior representatives from every Australian life insurer, reinsurer and the industry will discuss the creation of the Cooperative Research Centre on Australian Insured Lives with academics from the University of Sydney, University of NSW, Macquarie University and the University of Melbourne. 

The meeting will take place at the CBD campus of the University of Sydney. 

“We have had a strongly positive response from the insurance industry who have embraced this initiative and understood this as a tremendous opportunity for the industry to contribute to the formation of sound public policy, while also generating actionable insights,” Chief Investigator Doron Samuell said. 

“Leaders of the life insurance industry will have the opportunity to engage with leading economic and actuarial academics to discuss how the research will benefit the community, generate insights that will enhance risk modelling, help customers maintain insurance cover and improve their wellbeing.” 

The longitudinal study will track the preferences, behaviour, wellbeing and needs of insurance customers on an annual basis and is an opportunity for the life insurance industry to contribute to a deeper understanding of social needs, medical illness and disability in Australia. 

Chief Investigator Hoa Bui, former actuarial partner at KPMG and past President of the Actuaries Institute, says the longitudinal study complements traditional experience investigations and standard tables used in life insurance.

She says using a sampling approach can lead to deeper insights on well-known issues like mental health. 

The study will cover all distribution channels – retail, group and direct – and will provide the industry with a compelling opportunity to enhance sustainability, meet the needs of customers while informing public policy. 

A pilot Australian Insured Lives project has already started, according to the University of Sydney website. 

The objective is to collect more systematic data on the evolution of insured lives to improve product sustainability and cover in life insurance and enhance the efficiency of underwriting and claims processes, the website says. 

“The insights from the study will help insurers understand customer expectations from an independent study rather than let them be defined by various interest groups that may lack credible supporting evidence or contain bias,” the website says. 

“It will help address questions of insurance exclusion and sufficient cover that is fair.” 

Click here for more about the project.