Ellipse enters group risk market

A new insurer, Ellipse, has entered the group risk market and will focus on providing group life cover through a limited number of major employee benefit consultancies.

Part of the Munich Re Group, but operating separately to its UK reinsurance businesses, Ellipse will later add group income and critical illness contracts designed to integrate with benefit platforms, especially in the flexible benefits space.

The third and final phase of the launch, currently scheduled for the second half of 2010, will see the introduction of web-based contracts available to all advisers.

John Ritchie, chief executive officer at Ellipse, said: “As new and better ways of managing data and communicating benefits emerge, the ways in which employers and their consultants deliver benefits is also rapidly evolving. Ellipse’s processes and systems have been designed in response to this change. With no legacy systems to hold us back, we can supply a better, more efficient service to clients and positively impact adviser productivity.”

Explaining Ellipse’s decision to restrict its initial offer, he said: “We want to avoid the problems suffered by insurers who have launched attractive products only to struggle with the volumes of business generated. By controlling the amount of business we quote for, we can ensure our service is where we want it to be. We will add resources as we broaden our product range and make it available to more advisers.”