iPipeline Launches Advanced Underwriting on SolutionBuilder Alongside Project Partners, The Openwork Partnership

iPipeline has launched new digital underwriting solutions in collaboration with The Openwork Partnership, enhancing its SolutionBuilder platform. The update is designed to empower advisers with faster, more accurate life insurance quoting and decision-making.

This innovation was developed over the past two years. Working together alongside leading advice network The Openwork Partnership, Advanced Underwriting was created in direct response to adviser feedback, addressing one of the biggest challenges in the protection market – delivering more precise indicative up-front quotes and underwriting decisions.  

Advanced Underwriting will fundamentally change how quotes translate into final terms across protection products, saving significant time for advisers and enabling them to provide coverage for their clients, providing them with the most appropriate product more quickly. 

The Exeter, Vitality and Zurich will support Advanced Underwriting from launch and three more providers will be added in the coming months. Advanced Underwriting will be available exclusively to The Openwork Partnership advisers from 17 June, with a full market release to follow later in 2025. By integrating digital underwriting solutions, iPipeline enables advisers to automate complex underwriting tasks, significantly reducing processing time and errors

Advanced Underwriting will capture upfront information to assess the top 20 most common medical disclosures, which typically account for up to 80% of all medical loadings and changes in terms, post-application. 

This will deliver more precise premium and indicative underwriting decisions, all powered by their SSG Digital® platform technology, which means fewer repeat and non-progressed applications. 

Advisers and clients will have a more accurate view of what cover is possible, the associated premium from the outset, and whether any additional medical information is likely to be required, gaining increased trust through a more transparent process. 

Commenting Rachel Edwards, SVP & UK Managing Director, said: 

“The current quote-to-application journey isn’t predictable or as smooth as it could be, and it’s often opaque, interrupted, and delayed. 

Initial quotes that can’t always be trusted create frustration, uncertainty, and lost opportunities. Advanced Underwriting has been developed to change that, offering a much more seamless process that works better for everyone concerned. 

By collaborating closely with The Openwork Partnership and their leading protection advisers, we have ensured it addresses adviser issues and provides them with a user-friendly enhancement that benefits both them and their clients.”

Paul Shearman, Mortgage & Protection Proposition Director of The Openwork Partnership, said: 

“Partnering with iPipeline on Advanced Underwriting gives us the opportunity to help shape a tool that directly tackles one of the biggest pain points in the protection journey. Improving quote accuracy, reliability, and transparency from the beginning is

a significant step forward in helping clients get the cover they need, faster and with greater confidence.”

“The feedback we’ve had from our advisers who watched a demonstration of Advanced Underwriting has been unanimously positive. It will drive greater efficiency, and most importantly, create better client outcomes. A big thank you from Openwork to the launch providers who have grasped the potential of Advanced Underwriting. I’d encourage the other major providers to get aboard, before they are left behind!” 

Scott Taylor Barr, Principal Adviser, Barnsdale Financial Management said:

“Advanced Underwriting makes SolutionBuilder a one-stop resource that will streamline the options for me to research the most common protection disclosures. It allows me to better advise my clients on their prospective premium and terms, providing illustrations that actually reflect a more accurate costing. This will ultimately reduce the chance of clients changing their mind later down the line when final terms are issued.”