Gloomy outlook for CI

Sales of individual critical illness (CI) policies continued to fall between 2007 and 2008 and will do so until 2011, according to a new report released by Mintel. The report, based on figures from the Association of British Insurers, shows that sales of the product fell by 14% in this period, from 480,000 sales in 2007 to 412,000 in 2008. The authors of the report blamed "a sharp slowdown in the housing and mortgage markets," that it says "exacerbated the fall and contributed to an estimated 12% decline in new premiums, from £266m in 2007 to £236m in 2008". Part of the fall in new pr...