There is a need for a dedicated protection trade body, Tenet has claimed.

Reasons it has given for the idea include the recent shift to diversification within adviser business models to include more protection business and increasing importance of protection for consumers within the current economy.

Since the economic downturn, the group made the decision to actively support adviser firms in diversifying their business models, meaning that protection is an area that increasing numbers of intermediaries are actively involved in.

Tenet also said that the current economic situation also heightens the requirement for consumers to protect themselves and their families against situations such as loss of income and with the oft-quoted life assurance gap currently estimated at £2.4 trillion by insurer Swiss Re, Tenet believes that the protection industry needs all the representation and support it can get.

TenetLime managing director, Gemma Harle, said: “Trade bodies do so much good work for the industries they support; a lot of it behind the scenes to stop unfavourable issues or regulation from ever seeing the light of day.

“In the context of increasing European regulation, it is vitally important that the protection industry also has a united voice to protect its best interests. Under the theory of TCF, few intermediaries should not have protection within their business mix and so this has relevance for advisers and their clients across the board.

“Because of this, I think that a protection trade body would sit comfortably in partnership with either AMI or APFA, rather than as a stand-alone entity, which would have more significant challenges in terms of funding and critical mass.”