Russell Investments has upgraded the life insurance products offered through its superannuation master trust and corporate schemes covering about 100,000 members.

The upgrades will include technology improvements for fund members in the Russell SuperSolution Master Trust as well as the corporate schemes the company administers.

One of the upgrades is an online calculator developed in partnership with Tower Australia that works out how much insurance a member will need on the basis of age, income, dependents and marital status.  

Russell Director of Business Strategy Jason Marler says the upgrades are aimed at addressing the underinsurance problem in Australia.

“The current default levels of cover are often inadequate and people don’t actively check what they have and what they need,” he said.

“Legislative changes like MySuper are likely to exacerbate this problem with providers likely to adopt minimum legislative levels of cover within MySuper products rather than focusing on needs.

“This could result in a worrying number of members being critically underinsured.”

Additional upgrades include a new online application and underwriting process, which will approve additional cover on the spot for most applicants.

Russell also plans to leverage technology further to streamline the process of collecting information on the claims side.

It is also expanding the in-house teams handling insurance claims, Mr Marler said.