Bank of Ireland Life paid out over €102.5 million in protection claims in 2013

Over €381.5 million paid out since 2010

Bank of Ireland Life today (Monday 28 April ) issued its claim statistics for 2013, which saw the Bank pay out over €102.5 million in life, serious illness and protection claims. This is an almost 10% increase in claims paid out over the previous year.

Across the country there was an increase in the amount paid out in both life and protection claims. Unsurprisingly Dublin had the largest number of life claims paid out at 31% followed by Cork with 14%.

Commenting, Bernard Walsh, Head of Pensions and Investments at Bank of Ireland said: “The increase in payments for protection claims rose again in 2013 on the previous year’s figure. Over the last four years we have paid out over €385.1 million in protection claims alone.

“Over €26 million was paid out to customers for serious illness claims last year which shows that more and more people realise the importance of having financial protection cover. Due to changing employment terms many companies no longer provide payment when illness occurs. At Bank of Ireland we understand how stressful it is when an unexpected illness happens and we hope to remove this stress by meeting our customers’ financial protection needs when they need it most” continued Bernard.

Again last year cancer and heart related illnesses continued to be the two major threats to the nation’s health, with over half of all life cover claims and 71% of all serious illness claims being made for these illnesses.

Key findings from 2013 claims include:

Life cover claims:

The average life cover claim paid out was €60,000
59% of claims for life cover were male while 41% were female
Claims from males decreased by 8% from last year while female claims increased by 14%
22% of claims occurred in the first five years of the policy
Of claims paid out 39% were for cancer related deaths

Serious illness claims:

The average serious illness claim paid out was over €72,000
56% of serious illness claims were male which is a 7.6% increase in pay outs since the previous year
44% of serious illness claims were female which is a decrease of 8.3% in pay outs since the previous year
14% of claims were for people aged under 39
55% of claims were for cancer while 16% were for heart related illness

Income protection claims:

73% of all claimants were female
The highest percentage of claims were for psychiatric conditions at 33%

Bernard Walsh added “We continue to see a steady increase in serious illness and income protection pay outs with more and more people taking out policies to protect themselves against loss of earnings should illness occur. Serious illness can affect people at all stages of life with the youngest claim coming from a customer in her twenties.

“Income protection is paid out for an array of illnesses with the highest percentage of claims at 33% relating to psychiatric conditions. Other conditions claimed for included cancer, back and musculoskeletal injuries.

“The range of people claiming shows that income protection applies to people of all ages. 37% of all claims were for people aged 39 or younger while 65% of claims were for people aged 49 or younger. Taking out a policy for life cover, serious illness and income protection is now a priority for people. Since 2011 we have seen a 21 per cent increase in the number of people protecting themselves, particularly when they have dependents. It is encouraging to see that people of all ages are looking at their financial situation in a holistic way and are protecting themselves and their families for the future” concluded Bernard Walsh.

For further information on Bank of Ireland Life products and cover polices visit www.bankofireland.com/protection.

ENDS