If you're looking for a fast, detailed underwriting system, we'll deliver. 54% of applicants received an immediate decision on our award-winning interactive quote & apply system.

As we built the system in-house, we can react to change and refine it whenever we need to. For example, we constantly update the rule set, based on the information on the cases that have been submitted to us, tailoring the system to our customers' needs. This means we give you a quicker, consistent decision and of course, an additional 10% commission too. But it's not just about speed ...

Q: Tell us more about introducing teleunderwriting – how important has this been?
A: Immensely important, on a range of fronts. It means that customers don't have to reveal personal medical details to advisers, and it can negate the need for requesting time-consuming medical evidence by enabling us to talk to the customers themselves, who are often the ones who know most about their conditions. But, when insurers use proper nurses, the real benefit from teleunderwriting is that people feel more comfortable talking to a health professional. A nurse can advise that things need to be declared when they might otherwise be omitted due to applicants feeling they might not be relevant. So this creates better disclosure and fewer surprises at the claims stage.

Q: Do you offer 'Big T' or 'little t' teleunderwriting?
A: We offer both. 'Big T' teleunderwriting, which separates the advice process from the application process, has the significant advantage of removing the non-disclosure risk for advisers, who can otherwise now be liable in certain scenarios as a result of a claim. 'Little t' reduces the need for GP reports and speeds up application processes.

Q: Bright Grey says it's passionate about paying claims. Can you point to anything that actually illustrates this?
A: Unlike many of our competitors, we insist on receiving a signed confirmation from every customer who completes an application form. We know that applying for health insurance will be one of the biggest financial contracts that most of our customers will ever enter into, so it's only right that they have a proper opportunity to fully consider the information they have submitted for completeness, and separately from the sales process. It helps to ensure there are no surprises when they need us most, namely at the claims stage.

Q: Have any technological advances been assisting your underwriting process?
A: Bright Grey has invested significantly in developing its own expert underwriting system, interactive quote & apply, the only in-house built system in the UK. In certain scenarios it can offer an underwriting decision more than 54% of the time, and it can react to change very quickly.¹ Unlike most competitors, who buy external packages and are slaves to the providers if they want to make changes, we are entirely self-sufficient for expert underwriting and have our own team with the data and experience to write our own rules. We can pass on the benefits of savings we achieve to customers, who also benefit from a better customer experience.

Q: Can you give any examples of how this ability to react to change has helped?
A: Sure. Many customers who have existing cover with Bright Grey are now coming back for more and, although we currently refer them to our underwriters, we will soon amend the rules so that many of them will be covered immediately online. As another example, one of the questions recommended by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is about exposure to HIV, but this has only been answered by about 3 out of 80,000 applicants, so we will be looking to remove it. We can also amend decision trees for online underwriting according to what customers are telling us.

Q: Are there any further underwriting changes you're considering implementing?
A: Yes. Although we make less use of exclusions than most protection insurers, we accept that it would be in the spirit of treating customers fairly to offer discounts wherever possible to those with exclusions. For example, continuing to charge a customer for cancer cover when removing cancer as a payable definition doesn't seem right, because cancer is one of the biggest causes of claims and contributes significantly to the cost.

Source: ¹ Bright Grey, October 2009.