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The Summit Experience

Going above and beyond for your best clients, every step of the way.


Smoothing out the complexity of large cases

Large cases are unique and can be complex, but with meticulous attention and a high standard of service, solutions are available to help clients and advisors achieve their goals and enjoy an exceptional experience.

Large case clients have specific insurance and estate planning needs that require specialized service. Wealth preservation and tax strategies are key topics of interest. Families are often also concerned with equitably and efficiently passing important assets, including the family business, on to the next generation. Personalized service, attention to detail and execution excellence are critical to ensure the successful culmination of years of careful planning. 

Every large case is unique

While no large case can be described as typical, they often share similarities, such as involving multiple family members and affecting several generations. They may take several years of careful planning and involve situations such as estate freezes and large policies that involve multiple insurance companies. 

The Summit Experience by Manulife

For large complex client solutions, Manulife established a service specifically designed for minimum life insurance cases with $5 million face amount or $50,000 of annualized premium, critical illness insurance with $1 million face amount or 10,000 annualized premium, or Disability Insurance: $20,000 monthly benefit or $10,000 annualized premium.

 

The Summit Experience involves a team of professionals who work collaboratively to looks for creative ways to solve difficult problems:

  • The Tax, Retirement and Estate Planning Services (TREPS) team can work directly with the client’s CPA, lawyers and other advisors
  • Field underwriters with experience in large cases can help develop and package cases before they are submitted to underwriting
  • Product experts to advise on the best product solution 
  • The advanced sales team can provide customized illustrations and sales concepts
  • Staff MD’s are available for peer-to-peer conversations
  • Manulife wholesalers are available to discuss options and answer any questions 

A top advisor’s perspective

Samuel Cohen-Scali, President of SCS Design Financier is experienced in working with ultra high net worth clients in both Canada and the United States. When presented with a large complex case, he trusted Manulife to act as the lead underwriting team to work cooperatively with the four other insurers. 

At every step, we go above and beyond.

Step 1: Pre-application

Step 2: Application

Step 3: Underwriting

Step 4: Delivery

For more information, please visit https://advisor.manulife.ca/advisors/insurance/large-case-the-summit-experience.html

Constant communication 

Maneuvering a complex case through underwriting and coordinating with other insurers required diligent attention and regular communication. While important innovations such as the advisor portal and electronic applications were vital for efficiency, the team’s human touch made an important difference.

The Manulife team including the Chief Underwriter, Managing Director of Large Cases, Underwriting Director, Case Coordinator and Pricing Manager of Large Cases met weekly with Sam to discuss the progress and look for opportunity to keep everything moving through the process and ensure the policies were approved as quickly as possible.

A process designed to deliver a smooth experience 

Manulife is one of the few companies in Canada to have a proprietary Life Underwriting Manual, which allows underwriters to access the most up-to-date guidelines, tools and resources and efficiently manage the complexity of large cases. With one of the highest retention rates in Canada, Manulife can bind with reinsurance partners on routine cases for higher amounts, which translates into faster turnaround and issuing cases sooner. For Sam’s clients, it meant have policies issued less than two months after the receipt of the initial applications. 

The final word from Sam

“I am privileged to work on the insurance and estate planning of ultra high net worth families in Canada and the U.S. As their trusted advisor, it is my duty to partner with reliable and trustworthy insurance companies across Canada and the U.S.

As such, I can vouch that Manulife is not just a supplier but also a true partner of SCS Design Financier.

Working for such families requires the knowledge and the ability to secure jumbo insurance capacity in the Canadian market. There is a science behind securing and optimizing such insurance capacity and allowing the Manulife Summit Experience underwriting team to have the lead on my VIP large cases is an enormous added value to bring to my clients.

The team works efficiently and diligently on my large files that often last many months.

They continually coordinate with other insurance companies in the market as well as re-insurers to deliver required insurance coverage needed for my valued clients.

I could confidently say that Manulife is a key partner in contributing to SCS Design Financier's success and we are thankful for all their hard work.”