People buy life insurance to provide financial protection for their families if they die. But they often fail to cover against an illness or injury that could one day rob them of an income.

'Disability insurance is about a situation where the breadwinner of the family not only loses the ability to work and to look after others, but where he also becomes a financial liability,' Mr Ng said.

Less than 1 per cent of Manulife's clients have disability income protection. 'This means we have to do much more in terms of education and promotion,' he said.

Part of the problem has to do with a reluctance by clients to envision themselves being disabled. Yet the probability that a person aged 25 will be totally disabled for at least 90 days before reaching age 65 is 54 per cent.

The definition used for disability is crucial to the benefits that a policyholder can expect to receive. They range from complete inability of the individual to perform his or her own occupation to an inability to perform the duties of any gainful occupation.

Disability insurance policies disburse payments for a fixed number of years, or up to a certain age. They typically cover no more than 60-80 per cent of a person's gross earnings.

Manulife offers a choice of two disability insurance policies, with varying periods of payout, premium amounts and coverages. As a rule, the company pays up to 75 per cent of earnings for incomes under $30,000 per month and 50 per cent for more than that amount.

Premiums for a 30-year male professional and non-smoker insuring for disability income benefits of $30,000 per month would be $3,000-$10,000 per year, depending on the policy and its provisions.

The company defines disability in two ways. During the first 24 months, disability is considered an inability to perform the duties of the insured's own occupation.

'After that, the definition is a person who is unable to perform any gainful occupation in accordance with their training and experience,' Mr Ng said.

Manulife's newest policy - the Premier Income Protector - was launched five years ago and provides a premium refund feature. Eighty per cent of the total annual premium is refunded at the end of every 10 years, up to the age of 65, if no claims are made.

'We took this initiative to introduce disability insurance to the market and to make it more attractive,' Mr Ng said.

The policy offers a simplified underwriting procedure, a 90-day elimination period and pays up to $30,000 a month for policies with a maximum benefit period of five or 10 years. With more formal underwriting, the maximum income benefit could rise to as much as $100,000 per month.

The company's Disability Income Protector has no premium refund but is less expensive and can provide a benefit period of five years, 15 years, or up to age 65. More flexibility in elimination periods is also available, with periods of 30 to 365 days.

Other features include an annual benefit adjustment for inflation, a rehabilitation programme to help the insured get back to work and an optional claim escalator benefit that increases the disability income benefit by 5 per cent per year.

'The two products have a different focus in benefits and appeal to different segments of customers,' Mr Ng said.

Mr Ng believes a huge, untapped market for disability insurance exists in the territory, with the challenge to insurers of 'enhancing product benefits, providing appealing features and keeping products simple and easy for customers to understand'.