ING comes out top Down Under

In its study CANNEX assessed term life insurance, trauma insurance,
disability insurance, income protection insurance and packaged
[multi-risk] life insurance products available from 15 life
insurers.

“After careful collation of results from 15 insurers included in
our research, ING Life stood out for consistency across Australia
in all five categories,” said CANNEX in a statement.

“ING Life was awarded CANNEX National 5 Stars for Overall Best
Value Life Insurer after the company figured prominently among the
top insurers in each individual product and occupation categories.
This strong performance across the board resulted in overall top
honours.”

For the assessment, CANNEX applied its star rating system which
ranks financial products on one to five star basis. One star
equates to “satisfactory” two to “average”, three to “strong”, four
to “excellent” and five to “superior.”

According to CANNEX, only 75 percent of all financial products it
assesses receive a one star rating and only 5 percent of all
products assessed receive a five star rating.

However, while ING received top overall honours it faced stiff
competition. For example, in the income protection category ING
shared the title of Best Value Income Protection provider with
rival CommInsure, a unit of Commonwealth Bank Group.

Other insurers that featured prominently in CANNEX’s survey were
Tower Life, which received a five-star rating as Best Value Insurer
Term Life and Macquarie Life, a unit of banking and financial
services company Macquarie Group, which received a five-star rating
as Best Value Insurer Trauma.

Indicative of CANNEX’s influence in the Australian and New Zealand
financial markets, a recent survey found that 58 percent of
consumers stated they would be more likely to buy a financial
product with a CANNEX five-star rating.

Adding to ING Australia’s credentials is a recent upgrade of its
insurer financial strength rating by rating agency Standard &
Poors (S&P) to “AA-“from “A+”.