Reinsurer: post-Covid excess mortality could last a decade

Swiss Re is one of the reinsurers that has analysed mortality trends and identified that post-COVID excess mortality could persist in some places for more than a decade: Post-COVID 19 'excess mortality' rates could remain high for another decade - Insurance News | InsuranceNewsNet

Hat tip to Tony Vidler for highlighting this article.

Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector

16 Dec 2024 - In partnership with the Sustainable Business Council, the XRB has published a targeted guidance documents on transition planning: a short overview about the why and what of transition plan. https://www.xrb.govt.nz/dmsdocument/5340/

16 Dec 2024 - In partnership with the Sustainable Business Council, the XRB has published a targeted guidance documents on transition planning: a guide for executives. https://www.xrb.govt.nz/dmsdocument/5341/

16 Dec 2024 - The XRB is seeking input to a submission to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board in response to its exposure draft of a global public sector climate-related disclosure standard. https://www.xrb.govt.nz/consultations/climate/

16 Dec 2024 - Quarterly Statement by the Council of Financial Regulators for December 2024 released. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/news-and-publications/quarterly-statement-by-cofr-december-2024.html

16 Dec 2024 - NZ Police Financial Intelligence Unit release “The CASH Report” for September 2024. https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/fiu-monthly-report-nov2024.pdf

Quality Product Research by the numbers

As 2024 draws to a close we thought we’d do a quick by the numbers post to review what we’ve been up to this year. It has been a busy but wonderful year, and we’d like to thank everyone who has crunched numbers with us, come along to our roadshows, invited us along to their events and done business with us.

Research Advisory Board events held this year: 3

Years in operation: 13

Team members: 16

Quotemonster roadshows held: 17 venues all around the country plus one online

Research: 8 types of personal, 5 types of business, 24+ insurers, 80 on-sale products, 200+ legacy products – phew!

Users of Kiwimonster so far: 198

Number of insurer price changes: 230+

Highest number of users logged in on one day: 495

Attendees at roadshows: More than 800

Subscribers: 1100+

Unique number of IT update and improvement tasks: 2941, exclude duplicate and on hold items of which the IT team closed and made live more than 89.46%

Kilometres travelled by the team: more than 9,200 kilometres travelled, from the smallest meeting in Taupo to the largest on the North Shore of Auckland. And yes, we use carbon offsetting!

Rating factors: 27,000+

Frequency of quotes produced: A quote every 13 seconds, on average. Even more during busy periods leading to…

Total quotes crunched to date this year: more than 2.5 million

Total quotes crunched ever: more than 30 million

Last Research Advisory Board meeting of the year

Last month we held our final Research Advisory Board meeting of the year with our Southern members - Jeremy Bernstein, Travis Hamilton, and Wilhelmina Eveleens and our Independent Chair, Tony Dench.

Jeremy Bernstein

Travis Hamilton

Wilhelmina Eveleens

Independent Chair, Tony Dench

The feedback from our Research Advisory Board meetings has been very valuable to our Research team and allows us to strengthen our research ratings when we gain an insight into the adviser perspective.

Topics we reviewed were:

·         the proposed rating for Rural Key Person insurance;

·         the proposed design for product and provider settings (business);

·         the addition of new research rating factors;

·         the introduction of price change history.

We’re looking to recruit a new member in 2025 – if you know an adviser in the region who would be keen, please let a member of the research team know, you can find out more about the Research Advisory Board here. Being a member of the board provides an opportunity to participate in a governance structure and gain valuable wider industry experience.

Government announces reforms to strengthen NZ’s capital markets

The Government has announced a package of reforms to help ensure New Zealand’s capital markets are working to support a productive economy. The Government is making it easier for businesses to raise money from the public by making it voluntary to provide forward-looking financial information as part of an Initial Public Offering of shares. These changes are expected to be in place by May 2025.

The Government has also opened consultation on two proposals: enabling KiwiSaver investment in private assets; and potential adjustments to the climate-related disclosures regime. Consultation closes 14 February 2025.

The Financial Services Council (FSC) has expressed strong support for enabling KiwiSaver funds to invest in unlisted assets. FSC CEO Kirk Hope said,

“By enabling KiwiSaver investments in unlisted assets, such as infrastructure projects and innovative New Zealand businesses, we can unlock substantial capital for domestic growth.”

“This reform will not only provide Kiwi businesses with much-needed capital to innovate and expand but the opportunity of greater diversification for KiwiSaver.”

Some financial advisers warn that regulators need to get on board with the proposals, however. At a recent event we held in conjunction with the Financial Services Council, advisers asked questions about whether the Financial Markets Authority would be supportive of fund managers choosing to invest more in private assets and infrastructure projects which tend to be illiquid in nature. We think that these are good questions, and the answers will be highly sensitive to the context in each fund: for example, the scale of the investments relative to the total fund size and the liquidity of other assets, and the ages, balances, and probable withdrawal patterns of investing members.

More news:

Fidelity Life discounts on certain exclusions for Trauma covers are live

AIA release updated Working with AIA Guide

AIA webinar 'Webinar - Guide to Medical Conditions' 28 February

More locations offering AIA Vitality Fitness Assessments & Health Checks

Steve Wright dissects a recent FSCL complaint

nib promotion offers $300 woolworths vouchers to eligible applicants

Advice Link has appointed of a new general manager Sébastien Pierre

Tony Vidler writes of the importance of soft skills

Government announces hikes to ACC levies

Chapter Zero discusses experiences from year one of New Zealand's mandatory climate reporting

Significant increase in cyber incidents across New Zealand in Q3 2024

Dacreed will take over the Adviser Support Programme

Partners Life launched the Adviser Support Programme (ASP) back in December 2018 at a time of much regulatory change. With the legal, regulatory and licensing obligations now available and clear, Partners Life have decided to find a new home for the ASP, with the Partners Life ASP in its current form ceasing on 28 March 2025. They recommend advisers export their Word outputs and resource templates by 31 January 2025.

Compliance technology firm Dacreed will take over the ASP. Dacreed are planning on updating and modernising the ASP to provide advisers with a turnkey compliance framework that will remind advisers when and how to meet their regulatory obligations.

The ASP was a fantastic way for an advice business to develop policies and procedures. It was used by hundreds of advisers to build a framework for compliance where previously they had none. Dacreed is a great home for the ASP, which also hosts the continuing professional development content for www.sponge.co.nz . As a subscriber to the platform, which now hosts a wide range of training and compliance materials, including those made by Rosewill Consulting, it is fast becoming an essential destination for the materials, expertise, and information to run a better financial advice provider.

Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector

11 Dec 2024 - APRA has released its quarterly private health insurance performance statistical publication for the September 2024 quarter.  https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-quarterly-private-health-insurance-performance-statistics-for

12 Dec 2024 - RBNZ has issued the second amendment to the Interim Solvency Standard 2023, which will take effect for all relevant insurers from 1 March 2025. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/12/second-amendment-to-insurance-interim-solvency-standard-issued

13 Dec 2024 - The FSC has come out in support of the Government’s announcement to allow KiwiSaver funds to be invested in unlisted assets. https://blog.fsc.org.nz/media-statement-13-december-2024

13 Dec 2024 - The Government is progressing a package of reforms to help ensure our capital markets are working to support a productive economy. As a first step, the Government is making it easier for businesses to raise money from the public by making it voluntary to provide forward-looking financial information as part of an Initial Public Offering of shares. This will give businesses more flexibility and bring New Zealand closer in line with other countries like Australia. These changes are expected to be in place by May 2025. The Government has also opened consultation on two specific proposals that will help create more effective capital markets: Enabling KiwiSaver investment in private assets; and potential adjustments to the climate-related disclosures regime. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/strengthening-new-zealands-capital-markets

13 Dec 2024 - APRA has released its annual private health insurance statistical publication for the 2023-2024 year. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-enhanced-annual-private-health-insurance-statistics-for-2023

13 Dec 2024 - The Council of Financial Regulators (CoFR) has published their Regulatory Initiatives Calendar for Q4 2024. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/key-documents/regulatory-initiatives-calendar.html

16 Dec 2024 - The XRB has published a document that provides: information on their plan to consult on Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards (NZ CS), focusing on the topic of differential climate-related reporting and context to readers of the MBIE discussion document Adjustments to the climate-related disclosures regime. https://www.xrb.govt.nz/dmsdocument/5355/

Asteron Life paid out 97% of claims

Asteron Life paid out 97% of the Trauma, Life and Income Protection claims it received in the year ended June 30 2024. In total, Asteron Life paid out $112 million of claims, with $53.5 million being paid out for Life Insurance, $34.1 million in Trauma policy payments and $24.4 million in Monthly Income Protection cover claims.

Accident or Injury was the leading cause of claims, for both Monthly Income cover and Trauma cover. Mental Health claims duration remains high, with an average duration of 8 - 12 months, compared to other new claims where the average duration was around 6 - 8 months. Executive Manager Claims and Customer Solutions, Seema Bangera, said

“Return to work outcomes are directly related to early intervention and rehabilitation. This means the mental wellbeing of customers needs to be at the forefront for claims specialists and we need to ensure all clients have the necessary support building their personal resilience for their return-to-work journeys.”

More news:

Financial Advice NZ masterclass 'The ethics of client psychology: How clients think' 1 April

Partners Life enhance Quote for Alterations service

12 steps that could help prevent dementia

Quality Product Research – Major Review: the proposed rating for Special Events and Future Insurability

Introduction

Special Events Increase (SEI) and Future Insurability Option (FIO) increases are valuable but often underutilised features in products like Life or Trauma insurance. Recently, we were challenged by a rated company on our methodology for assessing these benefits.  As a result, we have initiated a major review of these items.

While SEI and FIO share similarities, they cater to different needs:

• Special events increases are reactive to life milestones.

• Future insurability options are proactive, providing periodic opportunities for growth. This is an optional feature to be selected at application time, and often results in an increase in premium.

Both features provide flexibility, especially as life circumstances evolve, and combining them offers the best of both worlds.

·        Our review aims to assess the following:

·        The sub-items used for each benefit.

·        The weightings applied to each sub-item.

·        How the Amount score should be captured: per event, allowable increase at policy anniversary, or total maximum increase over the life of the policy.

Key Considerations for Scoring

1. Per event: Capturing the increase per special event may highlight significant variations in amount scores between insurers. However, this could lead to confusion, as insurers often apply different limits to different special events.

2. Over lifetime of policy: This approach would provide more straightforward scoring but may result in most insurers receiving the same amount score, which could fail to reflect nuanced differences in limits for specific events.

Below, you’ll find our proposed sub-item list with preliminary weightings. These weightings will be refined based on feedback received during this consultation process.

Review process

Our review began with internal discussions and a comprehensive analysis of policy wordings across the market. We have conducted an initial review of the sub-items, and our next step is to seek feedback from insurers and reinsurers. Once all relevant information has been gathered, we will make appropriate updates to our database and share the new ratings on our social media channels.

Your feedback

We highly value your feedback on how these wordings are being applied in the real world. Please email us at info@quotemonster.co.nz with details of your experience to help us refine our understanding, or alternatively please use the Adviser Claims Experience on Quotemonster to log your claims experience, a video on this feature can be found here.

Partners Life appoints new Chief Financial Officer

Mark Schollum has been appointed as Partners Life's new chief financial officer. Schollum is currently Chief Financial Officer at Chubb Life New Zealand and has held a variety of roles in the life insurance industry in New Zealand and internationally. He is qualified as a Chartered Accountant and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors. Schollum will start his new role in March next year.

More news:

FSC Women in Finance Leadership Series is on 20 March

NZFSG has introduced Adviser Insights reporting tool

Government greenlights Kiwibank raising $500m ahead of eventual float

Confidence in New Zealand’s economy has nearly doubled among directors

Bell Gully publishes guide to support businesses’ strategies and help them meet climate reporting obligations

Study finds typical spending slow-downs post age 65 mean could mean smaller lump sum savings needed for retirement

Australia is set to introduce a ‘new class’ of financial advisers