AIA rolls out tweaked level policy
AIA has released, Cover for Life, a level premium policy with some new tweaks.
Monday, March 23rd 2026, 4:26AM 
7 Comments
It says the new product is designed to give policyholders “lifelong protection with certainty and flexibility.“
Customers choose their level of cover and a premium payment term that suits their plans, AIA Chief Product and Marketing Officer Alex Kühnast says.
“Once the term ends, premiums stop but cover continues for life. The premiums are fixed for the term and don’t go up with age.”
“A defining feature of the product is the ability to stop paying premiums once at least half the term has been paid for, and the policy will continue with a reduced cover amount. This gives customers a practical way to flex and maintain protection as their circumstances and cover needs change.”
Good Returns has asked AIA what the reduced cover amount is and also how the premiums compare with its traditional level product.
Quotemonster boss Russell Hutchinson says the level premium market is small and accounts for about 6% of life quotes, based on more than millions of quotes in 2025, on Quotemonster.
He welcomes AIA’s new product but says there is more to do.
“I am delighted to see some work being done in this area – more is required, but this is a welcome step.
“Of course, others do have level product, but this is a welcome return to structures that respect that the need for cover may extend beyond age 55, while rate-for-age structures may make that rapidly unaffordable.
Kühnast says Cover for Life responds to shifting customer needs, including longer life expectancy, growing migration, more diverse financial goals and increasing demand for predictable long term premiums.
“We’ve noticed customers are increasingly focused on long term financial security.”
“People want reliable, lifelong protection. They want something that can help them leave a meaningful legacy, cover end of life costs, or simply give them lasting peace of mind.”
“Cover for Life is designed to sit alongside standard life cover, giving customers options across different life stages. Life cover supports families when mortgages, dependants and income replacement needs are highest. Cover for Life adds certainty later on, helping with funeral and end of life expenses, leaving an inheritance, supporting a partner or dependent, or broader legacy planning.
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Comments from our readers
Paul Flood. Cover for Life cannot currently be indexed (As per AIA FAQ).
Congratulations on this offering might be premature; everything will depend on the pricing. It will be very interesting to compare the Cover For Life (C4L) premiums with those of a similar whole of life offering – Asteron Life’s Level to 100 cover (on which premiums cease at 100 and cover remains in force without the sum assured reducing).
At first glance it might appear to be a no-brainer, as (assuming death occurs after age 100) the Asteron client would be paying premiums for another 20-35 years after the AIA client had ceased payments (depending on the term of the C4L cover).
However, in my view it is imperative to calculate the Net Present Value (NPV) of future premiums when comparing whole of life options with differing payment term lengths. Using nominal figures creates an appearance of value, which can be used to populate marketing material with nice graphs. But sometimes appearances can be misleading. The AIA graph showing C4L next to rate-for-age and L65 options is meaningless (at best). The Y-axis has no values, while the X-axis starts at 0 (when minimum entry age is 16) and extends beyond age 120.
I have whipped up a NPV calculator to compare the C4L pricing to L100 pricing (sensitive to age at death) and will report back with some general impressions (if and when I get access to pricing). Here’s hoping that the AIA option is a win for consumers that have a genuine long-term need, when accurately compared with other available options.
Second bullet in answer to Q 1.
A few advisers have asked me about Cover for Life and as I understand it Cover for Life is a standalone product, not merely a premium structure option on Living Life Cover.
It cannot currently be indexed and does not appear to pay benefits on Terminal Illness.
Premium cover is also not currently available.
I agree pricing will be an issue, and particularly important for advice to clients.
I'm no actuary but expect level to age 65 will be most expensive (shorter premium collection period).
I would love to see Severe Trauma Cover for Life but can imagine why this would not be feasible.
I agree on the terminal illness. I wonder why this was not included.
No ability to index the initial sum is a trade-off – you get the certainty of a fixed premium but lose certainty about the purchasing power of the sum at claim time. The 50-year-old who takes $1M of cover today “creates value” equivalent to $370k in today’s dollars when dying at the ripe age of 100, assuming a steady 2% inflation over that term. 3% inflation – oops, make that $230k.
As far as risk transfer products go, Cover for Life is an odd one, due to the strange risk involved. That risk? Living too long to rely on traditional life insurance structures to fund intergenerational wealth transfer or other legacy requirements.
Um, who is recommending life insurance for “value creation” purposes? (The legal department said we couldn’t use the word “wealth” anywhere.) Oof, here’s hoping the suitability analysis rises to the level of reasonable grounds for financial advice.
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The formula is: (term of premiums paid to date / full premium payment term) x Sum Assured x 0.95
Something that is not clear (to me) at this stage is whether the Sum Assured can be indexed/CPI linked and, if so, whether the indexation stops once the policy becomes paid up. The Umbrella wordings on the AIA site have not been updated to include mention of this key aspect, which is arguably of the greatest importance when considering a whole of life product.