Zurich Financial Services Australia has lowered its financial and medical requirements for those seeking life insurance, in a bid to reduce Australia’s underinsurance problem.

Rob White, Zurich’s corporate communications manager, said that it was because so many people were taking on more debt that the need to insure against life risk was becoming so important. “A lot of people have borrowed to invest or put money in super without considering what could happen to their families if something went wrong, especially among families with a sole bread winner,” he said. From now on, less than 10 per cent (down from 15-20 per cent) of applications need to provide medical and/or financial requirements, and improvements have been made to 80 per cent of medical limit bands. These changes apply to nearly all types of medical tests, age bands and sums insured. Andrew Mckee, head of life risk, said: “From a business perspective, these changes to underwriting limits are another initiative in positioning Zurich as a highly competitive, market leader.”