HSBC Life UK delivers new Critical Illness Enhancements
HSBC Life (UK) Limited (“HSBC Life (UK)”) is delivering significant developments to its Critical Illness (CI) products for new customers. These include:
- Top-up payments.Policyholders can benefit from a top-up payment feature, available until age 60 on the CI Plus product. If a claim is made for one of nine listed conditions- including motor neurone disease and Parkinson’s – an additional payment is provided. This will be either £200,000 or the sum assured (whichever is lower), helping to recognise and support the additional costs policyholders may face following a diagnosis.
- Enhanced critical illness definitions across both CI Core and CI Plus products to provide greater clarity on what is covered, while also broadening protection to include improved cover for conditions such as less advanced prostate cancer and Parkinson’s Disease.
- Cover for 7 types of pregnancy complications on the CI Plus product with a payment of £5,000 on seven different types of complication, including stillbirth after 24 weeks’ gestation, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) or eclampsia and ectopic pregnancy with surgery to remove a fallopian tube. The enhancement was guided by customer feedback, with 68% of those surveyed saying it was important or very important to include.1
- Accelerated payouts are available across CI Core and CI Plus products when policyholders are placed on the NHS waiting list for qualifying surgeries. With NHS data2 showing that, as of July 2025, 7.4 million patients in England were waiting for treatment – including around192,000 waiting over a year – this change means policyholders can claim as soon as they join the waiting list, rather than waiting for the procedure itself. By enabling earlier access to payouts, policyholders gain greater peace of mind and more control over their treatment and recovery plans.
Richard Waters, Head of Protection Distribution, HSBC Life (UK) Ltd, said: “We have considered feedback and insight from advisers, customers and industry experts and developed a series of enhancements that ensure we can financially assist more people who are facing difficult health diagnoses. According to research3, 45% of advisers said their clients would be more likely to purchase critical illness cover if a payout was made as soon as they were added to the NHS waiting list. Furthermore, 60% of advisers said if additional/severity payments were paid quickly enough to pay for private treatment, their clients would be more likely to buy critical illness cover. Lastly, 67% of advisers said if their clients received a payment quickly enough to pay for private treatment for early-stage cancers, they’d be more likely to buy critical illness cover. Our Critical Illness payout rate of 94.4% last year4 highlights our commitment to paying claims and our latest enhancements will make customers more financially resilient.”
Notes to Editors:
1 HSBC Life (UK) research 2025.
2 NHS England – June 2025.
3 CIExpert’s Critical Thinking Report 2024.
4. In 2024, HSBC Life paid out claims, accumulated across all its Life and Critical Illness products and distribution channels.
Media enquiries to:
HSBC Life (UK) Limited
Ellis Ford ellis.ford@hsbc.com
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Jonathan Flint +44 (0)7831 818290 jonathan.flint@cdrconsultancy.com
About HSBC Life (UK) Limited
HSBC Life (UK) Limited is part of the HSBC Group, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC Group serve more than 40 million customers worldwide through a network that covers 64 countries and territories in its geographical regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa. We aim to be present where the growth is, enabling businesses to thrive and economies to prosper, and, ultimately, helping people to fulfil their hopes and realise their ambitions. HSBC Life (UK) Limited was founded in the UK in 1988 and offers insurance services to meet protection and investment management needs. Our services and solutions are available through HSBC banking channels and selected third parties, including financial advisers and aggregators. For more information on HSBC Life (UK) Limited range of services go to https://www.life.hsbc.co.uk/ and for more information on HSBC please go to https://www.hsbc.com
About HSBC Life
HSBC Life is the insurance business of the HSBC Group. We manufacture life and health insurance products in Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, India*, France, UK, Malta, Mexico, and Argentina. HSBC Life offers a range of insurance products to meet the protection, education, retirement, wealth growth and legacy planning needs of our customers. Our services and products are available through HSBC banking channels, selected third parties, including financial advisers and aggregators. *Through our joint venture, Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance.
HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 57 countries and territories. With assets of US$3,214bn at 30 June 2025, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations.