Why annuity underwriting requires more detail

Simple solutions can have some appeal but rarely stand up to more detailed scrutiny. In the enhanced annuity market we can point to ‘shallow' underwriting - in contrast to the ‘deep' alternative - as a symbol of the perils of oversimplification. It is six years since the key players in the enhanced annuity market started working together to replace the relatively simple medical questionnaires with an industry standard Common Quotation Form for gathering health and lifestyle information. ‘Shallow' was deemed obsolete in a market quickly moving from niche to mainstream. That makes its r...