Sovereign gives Beaton the boot
Sovereign has announced it will withdraw its participation from the Beaton Benchmarks survey, which asks advisers to rate the service and support given by life insurance providers.
Tuesday, April 24th 2012, 6:40AM
by Benn Bathgate
The company said, in a statement, the decision was made "in order to establish an alternative, local programme that will provide real insight and drive positive change for all advisers who come into contact with Sovereign."
The withdrawal comes despite Sovereign's consistently strong performance in the survey.
The company was the only insurer to consistently score above 80% in overall satisfaction for the last four years and in the 2011 Beaton survey joined AXA as the only two New Zealand insurers to achieve a five-star rating.
Sovereign acknowledged its strong past performance in the surveys but said it wanted to "offer more innovative support that will help position advisers well for the rapidly changing future and changing customer expectations."
The company also said the Beaton survey failed to provide greater insight into the challenges of the future.
"While it highlights providers who are performing well or not so well in specific categories, it doesn't offer the insights for Sovereign that will enable us to delve deeper into the real issues affecting advisers and the industry at large."
Sovereign said it will seek to engage a local research provider in order to better understand issues facing Sovereign advisers and the wider industry, and will make further details available once a provide has been selected.
Beaton said it was aware Sovereign's decision came as a result of a review of its entire research programme and that Beaton remained "a consideration" with regard to other research opportunities.
"This was simply a change of direction for Sovereign, who are looking to broaden the scope of feedback from advisers," Beaton said.
Benn Bathgate is a business reporter for ASSET and Good Returns, email story ideas to benn@goodreturns.co.nz
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