The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and the Life Insurance Professional Standards Working Group (LIPSWG) have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together for the benefit of the industry to establish a professional standards framework, undertake a demographic survey and develop an approach to assess current knowledge defined within the agreed framework.

It is hoped the program will improve the professionalism of the industry, build and improve the community’s confidence in life insurance, and create a significantly better experience for customers.

The membership of these two groups is comprised of AIA Australia, AMP Life, BT Life Insurance, ClearView, MLC Life Insurance, TAL Life and Zurich, which together comprise around 95 per cent of the country’s life insurance underwriters.

The announcement comes just days after AMP Life was called out for its “egregious” delays in the processing of life insurance claims. 

ANZIIF said the project has the added benefit of creating cultural change and driving strategy to attract and retain career employees.

AMP Life chief executive and ANZIIF board president Megan Beer said becoming more trustworthy requires the life insurance industry to demonstrate competence.

“Our commitment to lifting professionalism in our industry starts with key roles that deliver value to our customers,” Ms Beer said.

“Defining what it means to be an insurance professional is fundamental to the future of our industry and working collaboratively is the way we will achieve meaningful change.”

AIA chief executive Damien Mu said the new standards will ensure life insurance professionals “have a high level of well-rounded knowledge”, believing that the focus on good customer outcomes “will increase consumer confidence”.

ANZIIF chief executive Prue Willsford is also enthused about the announcement.

“Over the last two years, we have established a framework to drive this major collaboration in the life industry around professional standards,” Ms Willsford said.

“I’m proud to collaborate with the seven companies who represent 95 per cent of the gross written premiums in the life industry in this significant project.”