Webline Becomes the First Portal to Compare Enhanced Annuity Products

27 September 2007

Webline, part of the Capita Group plc, has become the first to offer comparative enhanced annuities with the addition of Just Retirement’s online quotation service to its quote and apply platform, taking its ‘panel’ of annuity providers to 10.

The latest addition puts Webline firmly in a leading position, by being the only portal to offer advisers the opportunity to easily compare enhanced annuities from two leading providers – Just Retirement and Tomorrow. This pioneering enhancement will enable advisers to provide their clients with a superior view of the market, for both standard and enhanced annuities, making the easy-to-use comparison tool an invaluable part of an adviser’s operations.

The innovative functionality will be able to generate instant quotes for clients who have pre-existing medical conditions. Using the XML (extensible mark-up language) the, clients’ full medical conditions will be captured through the Webline platform, and then passed to Just Retirement which will provide real-time quotes based on these specific, individual conditions.

The medical condition matching facility is highly efficient, and covers over 1,800 different medical conditions. This will ensure the most accurate and competitive quote is generated.

Matt Humphrey, Client Services and Operations Director of Webline said: “The addition of Just Retirement not only makes us the largest real time annuity portal but it also allows users to compare enhanced annuity quotes. This is an industry first, and we are proud to offer our users the opportunity to source quotations from a huge breadth of providers in the annuity marketplace. This is a revolutionary innovation which, through the adoption of technology, will enable us to streamline what had been traditionally a complex product proposition.”

Peter Ellis, Manager of Annuity Propositions at Just Retirement said: ”Just Retirement is very pleased to be offering its annuity product via Webline and the opportunity to immediately reach a wider intermediary audience. We estimate that only 25% of retirees who are entitled to an enhanced annuity actually receive them. By being part of this new service Just Retirement can more readily help advisers to treat their customers fairly by showing them the extent of the enhancements they can potentially receive.”