Our thoughts

We are delighted to announce that SelectX has formally merged with its long-standing technology partner, MML Solutions. This merger represents the natural evolution of a highly successful collaboration and provides a strong platform for the future. SelectX and MML Solutions first began working together in 2005, and over the years our relationship has gone from strength to strength. A key driver of that success has been our collaboration around RiskApps, the world’s only independent online underwriting manual, which provides underwriters with rating guidelines for life, critical illness and disability covers. RiskApps continues to evolve and is now at the core…

From the beginning of 2025 and after many years, Peter Maynard, one of the founders of SelectX, has decided to retire from the day-to-day running of the company. While we’ll certainly miss his steady presence, we’re pleased to say that Peter will remain involved as a non-executive director, continuing to offer his insight and guidance. He’s looking forward to spending more time on his interests outside underwriting – including maintaining and driving steam locomotives.

Gary Bundock and Graham Spark (MD of MML Solutions, which provides the platform for SelectX’s RiskApps underwriting manual) offer some considered views on a controversial subject.  The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked a wave of excitement and anticipation, with many businesses eager to harness its potential to transform their operations. However, amidst the hype and enthusiasm, it is crucial to approach AI with a level head and avoid getting swept away by unrealistic promises and exaggerated claims. One of the primary challenges of AI is the temptation to pursue its implementation solely out of fear of being left…

It is with regret that we bring you the news that Hank George died peacefully on 10 January, aged 77. He had been in declining health for some time although, characteristically, he had been active professionally almost to the last. In the world of life insurance underwriting, not just in America but around the globe, Hank was a veritable tour de force, renowned for his encyclopaedic knowledge of insurance medicine, his passion for fair risk assessment, his vocal opposition to outdated underwriting practices, and his tireless championing of underwriters and the underwriting profession. His career began at Northwestern Mutual (which…

Decision engines have been used for underwriting life business for close on 40 years now. They have evolved from simple engines processing predominantly ‘clean’ cases into systems capable of assessing substandard cases (including some with multiple adverse risk factors) and using information from external databases in real time as part of the process. STP (straight through processing) rates of cases which require no human intervention, can, in some markets, be 80% or even higher, leaving scarce underwriting resources to concentrate on the more complex cases. In 2011, SelectX, in conjunction with claims specialist Karin Lloyd, looked at the use of…

What is the right to be forgotten (RTBF)? According to Insurance Europe, “A RTBF requires insurance to be offered without considering all relevant risk factors.” [1] In recent years there has been increasing focus on potential discrimination against cancer survivors in the application of life insurance for home loan or other credit protection.[1] Therefore, in 2021 the European Commission published ‘Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan’, stating that Europe needed renewed commitment to cancer prevention, treatment, and care. Buried in the section entitled ‘Improving the quality of life for cancer survivors and carers’ is a statement about access to financial services, which…

… not in the course of business but in Peter Maynard’s life outside SelectX as a train driver. Peter works as a volunteer driver of steam (and diesel) locomotives on two ‘heritage’ railways – there are many such lines in the UK which aim to recreate the railway travelling experience of decades ago, and especially the atmosphere and special charm of steam power. On 16 August, the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, visited various places during a tour of the East Midlands. One such was the Great Central Railway, whose headquarters are at Loughborough. Peter says “I was warned that…

By Tom McCarthy* and Doug Ingle† Life is finite. That is one certainty we all understand. The final resolution… death. In many basic ways, this simple but universal concept is what fuels the life insurance industry. In most instances the unknown is when, during an individual’s life span, death will rear its ‘ugly head’. The concept of risk selection or underwriting exists in order to allow insurance carriers to try to ‘predict’ what a given individual’s remaining life expectancy might be. This comes from close review of medical and non-medical history either in detail (in traditional underwriting) or via data…

RiskApps, our independent underwriting manual has continued to develop through 2021 and we have made a number of updates to both the content and functionality: Early in the year we released a number of updates to key medical topics such as multiple sclerosis and cannabis More recently we also updated the Dementia topic after in depth research including more than 20 clinical papers We have also added new topics such as Duplex kidney, Pineal cyst, Postural tachycardia syndrome and Gender dysphoria The coronavirus topic has been regularly updated as our knowledge improves There have also been a number of updates…

RiskApps is an online underwriting manual providing underwriters with rating guidelines for life, critical illness and disability covers. The only independent manual world-wide and produced by SelectX in partnership with software experts MML Solutions, it has rivalled the manuals historically produced by the major reinsurers in terms of scope, quality of guidance and functionality. Now RiskApps is leaping ahead. Taking advantage of the latest development technology, it is being re-platformed in order to deliver major benefits to users and to enable quicker and easier ongoing product development. The re-design includes a brand-new look with space optimisation that makes navigation easier…