"The protection market as a whole remained strong and saw continued growth for the year..."
While overall sales improved in 2016, the last quarter of 2016 saw lower sales compared to the previous three months. For October to December £131.5 million of cover was sold, down from £139.3 million in the third quarter (-5.6%).
The data, which is collated from over 90 major product providers, with inputs from more than 11,000 advisers, shows that term assurance accounted for 38.7% of protection sales in 2016, while mortgage term assurance accounted for 16.5%.
Term policy sales grew by 102.4% compared to 2015, critical illness sales were up by 50.8%, and sales of term assurance policies with critical illness incorporated by 145.6%.
John Driscoll, Director at Equifax Touchstone, says: “Protection volumes fell in the later part of 2016 due to mortgage market declines in the third and fourth quarters. However, in a year of political upheaval, with Brexit and the US elections, the protection market as a whole remained strong and saw continued growth for the year.”
