RBC TAPS WEB TECHNOLOGY TO ENABLE EXAM-FREE RISK ASSESSMENT

Catalyzed by the desire to reach the lower-income customer segments that have tended to be overlooked by many life agents, RBC Insurance has created RBC ExpressTerm, a term life insurance product designed to be underwritten and bound online in as little as 15 minutes. Through a partnership with Quotesmith.com, ExpressTerm will be sold on Quotesmith's consumer Web site, Insure.com.

"Through technology we are able to do a reasonably thorough risk assessment that allows us to create a product that can cost-effectively reach markets that aren't currently being reached by life insurance," explains Jim Sharkey, vice president, North American Direct Insurance, RBC Insurance (Mississauga, Ontario). "There is a huge population of people with more modest incomes that need life insurance; but in general, the agents aren't calling on them."

RBC had an existing relationship with Quotesmith.com prior to its recent arrangement, so for this project, "Quotesmith was the natural choice," relates Sharkey. The carrier has been distributing a fully underwritten life product through Insure.com. But unlike its new ExpressTerm, the product was not bound online. Instead, leads were collected and followed up by members of a call center, relates Sharkey. The more fully underwritten product also required a medical examination.

After exploring Internet buying research materials produced by organizations including Forrester (Cambridge, Mass.) and LIMRA International (Windsor, Conn.), the carrier decided to create the ExpressTerm product, which is bound without a medical examination, explains Sharkey. Assessments of risk made online with the ExpressTerm product are facilitated through medical questionnaires that employ "reflexive questioning that is more in-depth for those with certain conditions," says Sharkey. "We also use third-party information from the Medical Information Bureau (MIB) database."

In order to bind policies underwritten online, customers must submit an electronic signature. If the applicant chooses not to submit one, a paper application will be sent to the applicant for a wet signature. After an application is signed and dated, the system performs an online MIB and fraud check. Once these steps are completed an electronic policy is issued online to the applicant, who is given the opportunity to set up an online account for policy servicing.