The $1 billion CONNECT Super has appointed a major consultant to help it assess new group insurance products available to superannuation funds.

Sean Leonard, chief executive officer of CONNECT, said Aon Consulting had been selected to carry out the work.

Improvements in group insurance product design, reflected by the SuperRatings benchmark for group risk offering through super, prompted CONNECT to investigate new offerings that would suit its member base, most of whom are aged in their mid-30s and drawn from the electrical trades, he said.

“We’re going back to product design and considering our insurance from a structural point of view, rather than what’s in the market already,” Leonard said.

Recent group risk improvements – such as the unbundling of death and total permanent disablement cover and the scope for trauma insurance – were indicative of how the market was changing.

Leonard said the fund was not currently considering these products, but was nonetheless interested in the newfound flexibility shown by group insurers.

He is working with Richard McNamara and Rochelle Hudson from Aon to conduct the survey, and said the review did not mean a tender would follow.

“We’re very happy with ING,” Leonard said, adding that in CONNECT’s last update of its insurance contract, ING increased the level of cover for existing premiums by 10 per cent.