According to Ian Smart, head of product development and technical support at Bright Grey and Scottish Provident, planning for the two hits on price has been challenging.
He said: “We are having to plan for both. There is a lot of guess work as there is with any sort of re-price. It is just not very often the whole industry will have to do it on the same day.
“Consumers probably will not notice. But advisers and brokers will notice because the price is going to change from day to day. There will probably be a couple of months of re-pricing activity.”
The removal of protection business from the I-E life tax system will affect each provider differently, but consensus says male rates will decrease further while female rates will be pushed upwards.
Mr Smart added gender-driven product innovation could transcend price in two to three years’ time when the market changes had stabilised.
“There is some thought that products might change in the future to potentially make certain products more attractive to men and women but the price could never come into it,” he said.
“If a provider is brave enough to be the first they could be pioneers. I am not convinced we will be able to make them different enough.”
Tony Columbine, director of Warrington-based financial planners Relevant Life Policies, said the gender directive will take away innovation in the market.
He said this year would present a market opportunity before prices go up, but the long-term would spell higher prices and a middling market.
“Price is quite a big issue. If you move away from price and risk the it is just cross subsidy,”Columbine said.
“We already have a big protection gap so the last thing we need is higher prices and less space for innovation.”
