Why MetLife

When you’re talking to clients about their insurance needs, here’s an easy reference guide that explains who MetLife is, our unique product features, and why we’re a global leader in insurance that supports advisers to offer the best advice.

WHO IS METLIFE?

MetLife is well-established globally

Founded in the United States in 1868, most people don’t realise MetLife has been going for 152 years and operates in more than 40 countries.

MetLife is one of the fastest growing life insurers in Australia. Since 2004, we’ve become the third biggest insurer in superannuation and are ranked number one in the corporate market.¹

We’re committed to growing our Australian market

Our main goals are to support our advisers, provide life insurance solutions to meet the changing needs of Australians, and support the industry with quality advice. We also have the scale and experience to be a valued and trusted partner in business for financial advisers.

That's what we do around the world and we do it well. We’re creating a fresh book of business, with no legacy issues holding us back.

Our approach is different

Most insurance companies offer a single, one-size-fits-all product with as many bells and whistles as they can fit in.

If affordability is a concern for your clients, we have options to suit their budgets.

Our approach is to create products that enable you, as the adviser, to help your clients choose the right cover amount based on their circumstances and where they are in their personal and work life.

Our modular product offers a solid base. If clients then want additional benefits and features, modules can be added to enhance benefits.

We have a proven claims record

Each year Metlife Australia pays more than $400 million in claims. In 2018, for example, we paid nearly $420m in claims to policy holders.

We've refreshed our products with a bigger focus on advisers

We’ve enhanced MetLife Protect and MetLife Protect Super to ensure advisers can better tailor insurance to their client’s needs.

We've also invested in bringing on the best people in the business to lead the transformation including:

Dr Jeff Scott, Head of Advice Strategy, with more than 25 years industry experience, is a regular media commentator on insurance, superannuation and pensions, and has lectured at the University of Technology Sydney (Investment and Financial Planning) and University of New South Wales (Taxation, Superannuation and Insurance). He created the first Terminal Illness benefit for life insurance products in Australia and helped develop Lump Sum Income Protection benefits.
Meray El-Khoury, Head of Retail Sales, is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia with a life insurance background. Before joining MetLife in late 2019, Meray was Head of Corporate and Institutional Sales, where she oversaw all distribution channels into their tailored employer super product. Over the past 15 years Meray has also worked at MLC and APRA in both client-facing and technical roles. She brings a unique mix of technical and customer insight which are powerful in understanding the need for sustainable growth in challenging markets.
John Ashton, Head of Retail and Direct Products, is responsible for the strategy and delivery of retail and direct products to market. He joined MetLife in May 2019 and has nearly 35 years' experience in the life insurance industry, working at several organisations in roles spanning administration, underwriting, claims and sales (as an authorised representative and BDM). John made the move to Product 10 years ago where he has held senior roles at AXA/AMP, AIA and most recently at MLC.

UNIQUE PRODUCT FEATURES

Our enhanced product offers unique benefits and features. Here are some important features to highlight for your clients:

Market leading Trauma Cover reinstatement

As trauma insurance isn’t available through super, you may need to make clients aware of this so they’re adequately covered should the unexpected happen.

Our Trauma Cover is unique in the market and based on research² that shows if someone suffers one traumatic medical condition, the chance of them suffering another unrelated trauma event is as high as one in five.

Our Trauma Cover Reinstatement Option provides continuous cover after multiple benefit payments – up to six times. This means a policy owner can receive a full benefit payment up to six times, based on the categories of Cancer Conditions, Heart Conditions, Neurological Conditions, Vital Organ and Digestive System Disorders, and Disability Conditions and Accidental Incidents.

Most retail products only reinstate it once, while some will reinstate up to three times. The additional benefit is that Trauma Cover Reinstatement happens automatically, up to five times after a claim is paid, which is one less thing for the client to worry about.

Needs-based Extras Cover

We build the most commonly needed features into our Standard Covers so clients aren’t paying for extra things they don’t need. This means clients can use a modular approach to building insurance cover that suits their needs, without paying for benefits that don’t apply to them, or that they can’t afford.

Continuous Cover During the Claim Period

Our Life Cover Buy Back Option (TPD) restores your client’s Linked Life Cover 14 days after a full or partial TPD Cover claim payment. During this period, your client’s cover isn’t cancelled or reduced, and they remain protected.

Five and 10-year Fixed Term Options

This is an affordable solution that provides your client with level premiums for a five or 10-year term. Life and TPD premiums are guaranteed not to increase for the length of the term. For business or corporate clients with business loans, this makes it easier to forecast expenses.

Ability to Work during the Income Cover Excess Period

MetLife Protect allows your client to work during the Excess Period (waiting period) and still be entitled to a Total Disability Benefit, regardless of occupation; not just white-collar occupations This is particularly helpful for small business clients who want to remain involved with their business after suffering an injury or illness.

Flexible work requirements

We only require your clients to work a minimum of 15 hours per week for Income Cover. In the new era of the ‘gig economy’ this enables people to obtain cover even if they’re not working the traditional 9 to 5 hours.

Generous Entry and Expiry Ages

With people now working longer, still paying off the mortgage later in life, and family dynamics ever changing, the need for life insurance at older ages is increasing.

That’s why MetLife makes cover accessible to more Australians by offering a generous entry age of up to 73 years for Life Cover and 64 years for TPD, Trauma and Income Cover.

Expiry age is 130 years for Life Cover and 75 years for TPD, Trauma and Income Cover.

TPD Cover: Any Occupation Benefit to age 75

We offer an Any Occupation TPD definition up to age 75, unlike most insurers who only offer to age 65 or 70.

Life Cover: Specified Events Benefit for Blue Collar Workers

We’re the only insurer to offer a Specified Events Benefit under Life Cover, not just Income Cover like other insurers. This has the added benefit of providing consistency for premium-payment tax deductions.

True CPI increases

Our CPI increases average 2% while most other insurers average 5%, making it more affordable for your clients in the long term.

EXTRA SUPPORT AND FLEXIBILITY

Premium discounts

Your clients may be entitled to a discount on premiums depending on:

the combination of cover for each client
cover amounts
if another family member or business partner takes out cover under the same application
health factors
the time since the policy started.

Existing No-Claim periods

If a client is replacing existing MetLife cover, or cover from another insurer, we recognise the No-Claim Period the client has already served under their existing cover.

For example, Trauma Cover and Income Cover subject to a No-Claim Period will be available immediately, if that No-Claim Period has been met under their existing cover.

Flexible cover

Clients can increase their cover amount or add additional cover/s if certain events occur within 30 days of the policy anniversary.

Events including a salary or home loan increase, marriage, or living in a de-facto relationship, allow your client to add to their policy with no medical underwriting.

This means that as clients’ personal circumstances change, their insurance can adapt too.

WE SUPPORT ADVISERS TO SUPPORT CLIENTS

Your advice is tailored to each client and their personal situation, and our products are flexible so you can shape them to fit your advice accordingly.

For example, if a client is a self-employed blue-collar worker, they may consider Day One Accident Cover. If they’re disabled due to accidental injury their benefit payment means they’ll still have money coming in and can meet their financial obligations.

Before you meet with clients, it’s a good idea to ask them to do some homework so they have a clear understanding of where their money goes, how much debt and discretionary spending they have – and how much insurance they may already have inside super. From there, you can tailor MetLife products to suit a client’s budget and needs.

Products that create confidence and trust

Clients can only get MetLife Protect and MetLife Protect Super through advisers, so we’ve created these products to ensure you can feel confident suggesting them to clients. These products are developed to provide: