Investment platforms are becoming an important distribution model for life insurers, according to Tower Australia CEO of Group Life Andrew Boldeman.

“Platforms offer an easy solution for the adviser and we are seeing good growth from this area,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “The insurance offerings on platforms have been getting better.”

Tower has been working with financial services provider IOOF to enhance life insurance products for superannuation members on its Pursuit platform.

“We [also] work with some independent platform providers to enhance the insurance offering, but many of the larger ones are owned by the banks with their own set of products.”

Mr Boldeman believes the large institutional platforms will eventually expand their insurance offerings further to meet the demand of advisers.

Life insurance advisers have been multi-agents for many years and initially that was behind their reluctance to use platforms that had limited product offerings.

“The advisers who have always written life insurance want access to all quality products,” he said. “But those new to life insurance have taken to using platforms more because they offer both investment and insurance in one place.”