Zurich has increased its financial evidence limits for customers applying for life and critical illness insurance.

It aims to make getting cover quicker and easier for both advisers and their customers.

The changes mean that customers now only need to complete financial questionnaires where their sum assured is over £2m for life cover and £800,000 for critical illness cover.

In addition, supporting financial evidence, such as proof of earnings or company accounts, is now only needed where the sum assured is over £3.5m for life cover and £1.5m for critical illness.

Zurich has also raised the ceiling for the amount of protection people can take out, making it easier to buy insurance at higher values. It is among the first in the market to offer life cover set at thirty times an individuals’ income for those under 39.

As part of its underwriting re-fresh, the insurer has extended the availability of its specialist large case underwriting service to include all applications where customers pay a monthly premium of £250 per month.

Previously, large cases were those where the customers’ sum assured was £1m or over. The benefits of the large case service include individual case management and a dedicated contact when customers are applying, pre-application medicals and faster turnarounds to ensure people are covered quicker.

Nicky Bray, chief underwriter for Retail Propositions, said: “These enhancements will make applying for protection quicker and simpler, not just for customers but for advisers too.

“They also mean that more of our customers will be able to benefit from our specialist large case service which benefits from over 30 years’ experience in dealing with higher value cases.”