YBR partners with US insurance giant

The Yellow Brick Road Group will offer a suite of tailored lifestyle protection solutions this year through a new partnership with MetLife.

In a statement released today, YBR said the agreement is the next phase of the group’s core business strategy to leverage the scale of key players for product delivery.

The Australian arm of MetLife was chosen because it is the best in class on a global scale.

The Yellow Brick Road Loan Protect and Vow Loan Protect products will be available in October this year, ahead of the release of a full suite of white-labelled income protection and life insurance options, which will be sold through the Yellow Brick Road Group.

“A core part of our business at Yellow Brick Road is to provide our customers with protection against the unexpected," YBR executive chairman Mark Bouris said.

“When a person secures a mortgage, it is generally the biggest debt they will take on in their life.

“As mortgage sizes significantly grow, Australians still lack the insurance to repay their mortgage if something unexpected happens.”

The YBR products provided via MetLife can be accessed by consumers through a distribution network of 255 established YBR licensees and over 850 Vow Financial independent brokers.

The products will be tailored specifically to meet the needs of customers at different life stages.

YBR chief executive Matt Lawler said partnering with a global insurer was a natural fit and adds significant depth and breadth to the product range available to Yellow Brick Road and Vow customers.

“Yellow Brick Road is fast becoming a household name and was founded – and has succeeded – on the principle of giving customers more control,” Mr Lawler said.

“With our brand, backed by one the world’s largest insurers, we will give our customers the ability to tap into a new suite of insurance products designed for their needs.

“We have built strong branch and broker channels and with our scale, the timing is right to accelerate distribution of a high-quality, white-labelled insurance product.

“This partnership will allow Yellow Brick Road and MetLife to create customised products that meet the needs of our mortgage clients and are competitively priced.”

MetLife CEO Deanne Stewart said the Yellow Brick Road partnership would be the ideal avenue for MetLife to expand its footprint in the retail market.

“The broker market has been underserviced for some time,” Ms Stewart said. “This partnership is a means for MetLife to address that service gap with a quality retail insurance offering, utilising Yellow Brick Road’s strong network of advisers and brokers.

“MetLife and Yellow Brick Road share a similar brand proposition and a focus on developing responsible and customer-centric products that adapt to the changing life needs of consumers.

“For our part, we were attracted not only to Yellow Brick Road’s growing network, but also its independence and ethos of challenging and disrupting business-as-usual in the personal finance industry,” she said.