ING Life and Zurich have been jointly given Cannex’s “outstanding value” award in its latest life insurance report for their products and pricing.

The report says ING has stayed ahead of its competitors through a combination of “strong products and pricing”.

“Although ING Life does not feature in the top two for each category – term life, trauma, total and permanent disability (TPD), packaged life insurance and income protection – it was a hair’s breadth away everywhere, and it was this absolute consistency across the board that got it to the line when the points were added up,” the report stated.

“ING Life also featured prominently in income protection broken up by occupation.”

Cannex noted Zurich has become a serious contender in life insurance by strengthening key features of its products and adjusting prices.

“This gave it the edge needed to equal ING Life,” the report said.

“Strong performances in term life, TPD and packaged life insurance, as well as income protection by occupation, gave Zurich equal standing with ING Life.”

Cannex sought 600,000 quotes for its survey across three life stages, 15 occupations, two premium types and both genders.

In the term life category Cannex awarded five stars to both Tower Life and Zurich, the latter also being awarded five stars for its TPD and packaged life products.

CommInsure won five stars for its trauma and income protection products while Asteron was give five stars for its trauma product.

AXA, Macquarie Life and AIA won five stars for their TPD, packaged life and income protection products respectively.

Meanwhile, Allianz, Real Insurance and Zurich have been awarded five stars by Cannex in its direct life insurance report.