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Vision Super drops CommInsure for insurance cover from MLC

CommInsure has lost another superannuation fund customer with Vision Super announcing it will move its $80 million group life insurance contract to MLC from January.

The move brings to five the number of funds to abandon CommInsure since the financial scandals around it and its Commonwealth Bank parent broke last year detailing poor claims management processes and the denial of coverage to super fund members who were sick or injured.

Vision Super, which has around 100,000 members and almost $9 billion in assets, made the decision following a tender process.

“Our group insurance cover is very important, because for most Australians insurance through their super is the only cover they have, and many would struggle to get retail cover,” said Vision Super CEO Stephen Rowe.

“We not only want to make sure members are paid when they have a genuine claim, we want to help them stay healthy, and help them recover and return to work if they do get sick or have an accident.”

“Through the tender process, it was obvious MLC Life Insurance was on the same page as Vision Super, and has the same member-first approach,” he said.

Health services fund HESTA has dropped CommInsure, as has transport and logistics fund TWU Super, education and community worker fund NGS Super and professional services fund CareSuper.

In January, CommInsure had a win, gaining a small contract with Nationwide Superannuation Fund to provide insurance to its 40,000 members. But the NSF deal, worth about $8.5 million a year, is much smaller than the HESTA contract, estimated to be about $400m for its 800,000 fund members.

It is also well below the combined $200m value of the NGS, CareSuper and TWU Super contracts. The Vision Super contract is estimated to be worth about $80m.

The latest news comes after CBA struck a deal to sell the CommInsure business to Hong Kong-based life insurance specialist AIA Group for $3.8 billion. The deal will settle next year, and AIA is planning to dump the CommInsure brand which has been tarnished by the scandal.

CBA did not respond to questions from The New Daily about whether the loss of the Vision Super contract would affect the sale price AIA will pay.

MLC Life Insurance is a specialist life insurance company, majority owned by one of the world’s largest life insurers, the Nippon Life Insurance Group. In addition to providing online underwriting and claims lodgement, MLC Life Insurance offers members and their families access to Best Doctors.

The service provides access to medical advice and second opinions from a global network of peer-nominated medical specialists at no additional cost, whether they make a claim or not.

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