The German insurer Allianz is to offer life insurance direct-to-customer deals in Australia, which will be cheap and fill Australias underinsurance gap.
The majority of life insurance policies includes cover for death and personal injury, but because they are mostly sold through intermediaries, commission is charged on top.
The company say that the premium for a male non-smoker will be over 20 per cent less than cover purchased from a financial adviser and 35 per cent cheaper than a policy sold over the phone or internet .
Australia only has a handful of companies that sell life insurance directly online or via the phone .
Buying life cover online is more expensive as the checks are not as thorough so the insurer is open a broader range of claims .
Jonathan Poole, chief executive of Allianz Australia said, "There's a whole lot of incentive for them to do that because the majority of their sales come through those intermediaries.
"We're not saying that financial advisers don't offer a valuable service, they obviously do. But for a lot of Australians it's a service that they don't need."
The move by Allianz is similar to that of Tesco Plc in the UK where they won a fair share of the life insurance market by selling direct.
The maximum offered by Allianz for death cover will be $1.25 million for an online policy .
The company will also sell critical illness and disability cover online.




