On Tuesday 1st March, the EU Court of Justice ruled on the issue of Gender Rating.
From 21st December 2012, the use of gender in calculating premiums and benefits will be abolished. The aim of this ruling is to “eliminate inequalities and to promote equality between men and women”.
This effectively means that from 21st December 2012, the insurance industry will move to unisex pricing for life assurance products. While much of the detail remains to be finalised (such as whether this will impact existing business as well as new business), we will review the full implications on our protection and annuity products, including pricing and underwriting.
According to David Swanton, Head of Product Management, New Ireland Assurance:
“Following the European Court of Justice ruling in relation to the EU Gender Directive on the 1st March there are a range of potential outcomes which may impact our current and future customers.
The outcome of the ruling may, for example, make life cover more expensive for females and annuities (which provide a pension income at retirement) more expensive for males. We will now spend some time working through the detail of the judgement, after which time we will be in a position to communicate any likely impact to our customers.”