E-commerce beats the doubters in 2002

The volume of new business processed by life and pensions companies nearly doubled last year as e-commerce continued to spread throughout the industry, according to the latest annual Quotient survey from Focus Solutions Group. From an index base level of 100 last year, the Quotient rose to 183 as 100% of the insurers questioned said they now do business through IFA portals. Two-thirds of insurers trade through IFA extranets and about a quarter also enable consumer websites capable of online transactions. Nigel Smith, Focus' director of market propositions, says the rise...