Life insurers will be using records from ATMs and credit cards as means of assessing an individual’s risk profile in the future, according to Munich Re Chief Underwriter Life Shane Burdack.

“There is a lot of work under way around the world on alternative risk profiling,” he told delegates at the Association of Financial Advisers conference on the Gold Coast last week.

“We are working worldwide using death statistics to build risk profiles, and in the UK we are matching this data to postcodes.”

Mr Burdack says risk profiling is moving away from traditional methods to look at ATM records to see when people access the machines and at what time.

A person who accesses their account regularly at 2am could be living off fast food, and this would indicate there could be some health problems looming.

“This type of analysis could be more effective in defining a person’s risks than by just questioning them,” Mr Burdack said.

“I think we will be asking more lifestyle questions in the future and a lot of this information is already available.”

He says genetics is another tool for underwriters to price risk in the future.

“Within three years we should be able to map the genome profile of a client for under $1000.”

AMP Director of Underwriting and Claims Policy Bernadene Gordon says while genetics will be beneficial for risk profiling, care is still needed.

“In the US, for $US99 ($92.66) you can spit into a tube and the company will then send you your DNA profile and risk factors,” she told the conference.

“While this is good for profiling, we need to be discerning about using this information to properly undertake the risk assessment.”