Show Notes
TPD was built for “total” and “permanent”, but the market drifted into grey areas. More subjectivity. More debate. More claims that, in hindsight, never really matched what the words were supposed to mean. We sat down with Gerard Kerr, Chief Executive, Individual Business at Acenda, to talk about their severity TPD and why it exists alongside the traditional own and any occupation options.
The shift is simple, but it changes everything. Instead of arguing what “duties” means and how “reasonably suited” should be read, the definition leans on recognised medical impairment scales for mental and physical conditions. More objective thresholds, less opinion. That also means the advice conversation has to sharpen up. The trade-off needs to be crystal clear, the documentation needs to be clean, and the cover structure needs to match the client’s budget and their tolerance for severity risk.
This is one of those product changes that sounds technical, but plays out in real outcomes when clients need it most.
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Zurich’s pricing changes are being framed as aggressive, but from an actuarial lens, they’re a response to worsening pool dynamics. Duration-based discounting pulls forward profitability, while lapse-supported pricing assumptions break down when persistency improves among higher-risk cohorts. The result is predictable. Loss ratios expand and repricing follows.
Most advisers aren’t short on CPD. They’re just not capturing what’s already happening.