Chatswood serves the life and health insurance sector in New Zealand with market intelligence, data, and bespoke consulting services. Some of these are provided in conjunction with Quality Product Research Limited - a subsidiary that brings you Quotemonster.
We believe that good decisions are more likely to occur when we have good information about the market environment in which we operate. Intuitive leaps and creative decisions are always required, of course, but the more they are based on a firm foundation of observation, the better they tend to be.
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
27 Sep 2023 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released a consultation on its proposed changes to the Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) reporting standards and guidance, drafted in conjunction with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). Submissions should be sent to APRA by 6 November 2023. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-consults-on-updates-to-modernised-economic-and-financial-statistics
29 Sep 2023 - KPMG, Chapter Zero New Zealand and the Institute of Directors release 'What difference can directors make?', a new guide to climate governance based on interviews with 13 of New Zealand’s most experienced directors https://www.chapterzero.nz/news/what-difference-can-directors-make/
29 Sep 2023 - The Council of Financial Regulators has released an updated Regulatory Initiatives Calendar for the financial sector for Q3 2023. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/key-documents/regulatory-initiatives-calendar.html
Legacy Research is Live on Quotemonster
At our recent roadshows we demonstrated the new Standalone Head to Head feature which allows you to compare legacy products and more than one product per provider.
This feature is now live on Quotemonster for all Researchmonster subscribers.
To access this simply click the ‘Standalone Head to Head’ button pictured below.
Why score legacy products?
Legacy products may be of interest to financial advisers wishing to provide advice on retention, addition, or disposal of a currently held contract which is in a closed product group no longer receiving upgrades, or receiving limited upgrades.
Insurer product teams and in-house client advice teams may similarly wish to understand the differences between closed and on-sale products.
The value of legacy product research
We estimate that more than 95% of these legacy policies require some form of individual research to enable an adviser to confidently advise on business replacement. A Financial Advice Provider needs to be able to confidently address the differences between an existing policy and a possible new policy to provide advice on retention, disposal, or replacement of the business.
Click here to find out more.
We have a 30 minute training session for this new feature on Tuesday 3 October at 11.30am online, if you would like to attend please email us on info@quotemonster.co.nz and we will send you the link.
Reasons you may require a valuation
Thanks to Tony Vidler’s email for pointing out that Advisorpedia has an article: “Six events that require a valuation of your financial practice” - it is well worth a read, which will only take two minutes. In case that’s too long, here are the six reasons as headings:
Acquisitions
Loans
Internal succession planning
Mergers and teaming
Divorce
Charitable contributions
But it is worth exploring the reasons in more detail - so do click through and read. We think the New Zealand tax context means that the last reason does not apply. We also think that - wherever you are - we would add at least one more reason: managing for value. Although as a business owner your income and investment return are the day to day ways you receive value for what you do, the sale of the business - or even just parts of the business - will probably become important in the future. Remember, one day you will not own your business. Between now and that day you should probably be actively managing your business to increase its value. If you don’t measure it you can’t keep accurate track of how you are doing.
2023 Value of an Adviser Report out now
Russell Investments have published their 2023 Value of an Adviser report. In 2023 they rated the value of an adviser in New Zealand at approximately 5.9%. Russell Investments refer to how an adviser’s role has broadened over time from that of a simple stockbroker to an agent who can help with everything from insurance needs to legacy planning. Some of the highlights from the report are below.
· One of their key tenets is an adviser can act as a behavioural coach, helping clients take a long-term view. Sometimes that will involve taking a step back and removing the emotions from financial decisions.
· They write of how advisers will need to personalise their offerings, and how that personalisation can mean different things to different generations.
· Planning needs to be done on a regular basis to keep in step with a client’s changing needs.
· The adviser acts as a guide during the entire process of a client’s financial plan, pulling in experts (such as accountants, estate lawyers) where required.
· They point out time is often an adviser’s scarcest resource and encourage advisers to look at low value activities that could be stopped or reduced.
I’d also suggest looking at opportunities for outsourcing or better utilising technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help reduce the burden of administrative tasks or deliver better engagement. Quotemonster have recently made some enhancements to our service using AI to pull through information from insurer quotes and automatically input into your Quotemonster Client and Benefit Details and we’ve also added voice to text conversion in the needs analysis fields, cutting down on administration time for advisers.
If you’re interested in finding out more about AI in the insurance space, we wrote a use case for AI including challenges, limitations, beneficial areas and potential use examples in our June 2023 quarterly report. If you would like a demo of any of Chatswood Consulting subscription services or to purchase a past report, please get in touch with Kelly Pulham on 021 311 660 or email kelly.pulham@chatswood.co.nz.
More daily news:
AIA NZ welcomes Snap Fitness as a new gym partner and provider of AIA Vitality Fitness Assessments
Fidelity Life announces expanded careers development programme and new digital, product, service and retention initiatives
Fidelity Life is expanding on its Career connect adviser training course to support financial advisers at different stages of their career. Adviser Edge is due to launch in April 2024 and consists of:
Career connect: For advisers new to the industry (0-1 years' experience), a comprehensive adviser skills and training programme, aimed at attracting and training the next generation of financial advisers to the industry. Fidelity Life have announced two new intakes with spots for up to 15 adviser-nominated candidates and 15 new to industry advisers.
Professional pathways: with places for 50 advisers with 1 – 7 years of experience, Professional pathways will offer customisable and targeted educational resources, training, mentoring and development opportunities.
Advice masters: 30 experienced business owners with 7+ years in the industry will receive a tailored programme, delivered either 1:1 or in small groups on specialist topics including mergers and acquisitions, capital structuring and funding, value optimisation, succession planning, purpose-driven strategy, governance and sustainability.
Expressions of interest for Professional pathways and Advice masters are open now and applications for Career Connect will open in February 2024, with all starting in April 2024.
Fidelity Life have also introduced a suite of initiatives following completion of a series of transformation projects.
Live chat - quick and easy access to New Business and Underwriting teams now live via Adviser Centre.
New-look E-App – a modern an intuitive user experience from March 2024.
Dedicated adviser service team - now available, a team committed to servicing all adviser needs.
Working together - a comprehensive guide covering everything you need to know to do business with Fidelity Life, coming soon.
Signatureless forms - the need for some signatures has been removed and acceptance of digital signatures has been extended.
Transparent turnaround times –turnaround times for new and existing business queries on Adviser hub will be published shortly.
Renewal reminders - copies of customers’ renewal letters for Tahi policies.
Keeping customers covered - automated SMS reminders and outbound calls to customers in arears.
Online masterclass – coming in November: the latest in lapse data and trends and how behavioural science can support customer conservation.
Monthly mortgage repayment - cover benefit percentages to increase from 110% to 115% of mortgage repayments and 40% to 45% of income, to better reflect the high cost of living.
Special events and Future insurability - new Special event triggers to be added as reasons for optional cover increases such as buying investment property, land, holiday home, co-signing a child’s mortgage or supporting a child with fulltime tertiary study. Some exclusions for Special events and Future insurability (i.e., for customers with loadings or special terms) will also be removed to enable customers' better access to these benefits.
Key person new to business and Key person for farmers - monthly cover limits will be increased from $4,000 to $6,500 for Key person new to business and from $5,000 to $9,000 for Key person for farmers covers to acknowledge increasing labour costs.
Repatriation benefit - available on all inforce and new on-sale retail life covers, the newly added benefit will be on top of the life cover sum insured and will be accessible to repatriate a body home from and to New Zealand.
Trauma stand-down period - the stand-down period will be adjusted to start on the date of application submission, not completion of underwriting, to acknowledge pressures within the healthcare system which can cause underwriting delays.
More daily news:
Katrina Shanks writes how first-home buyers can take advantage of lower house prices
National calls for Labour to confirm plans for the Income Insurance Scheme
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
26 Sep 2023 - The Federal Court of Australia has ordered ANZ to pay a $15 million penalty after it admitted to misleading customers as to the funds available to those consumers in certain credit card accounts. https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2023-releases/23-260mr-anz-penalised-15-million-for-misleading-customers-about-available-funds/
27 Sep 2023 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua has launched the final policy consultation on the review of the Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act (IPSA) 2010 https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/09/ipsa-consultation
Wotton + Kearney release 2023 NZ Insurance Market Trends Update
Wotton + Kearney have released their 2023 NZ Insurance Market Trends Update. Of note, it includes updates on:
· increase in director accountability for ESG issues and climate-related financial disclosures;
· how organisations will need to consider how applicable tikanga values should inform their conduct when dealing with employment relationship issues;
· how organisations need rigorous processes in place for restructures and redundancies;
· extensions to Schedule 2 Occupational Diseases;
· changes to the regulation of medicines, medical devices and natural health products;
· the passing of the Therapeutic Products Bill 2023;
· cyber, privacy and data security.
More daily news:
Cost of living crisis is changing conversations advisers are having with clients
Katrina Shanks writes of the importance of quality financial advice
mySolutions webinar 'Are you maximising your marketing potential' 9am 27 September
27% of 4,120 claims received by IFSO were related to health, life and disability insurance
Lifetime webinar 'Your Homeownership Adventure Begins Here' 7pm 27 September
Man trying to claim pregnancy care on his health insurance policy has complaint turned down by IFSO
Alzheimer’s Society recommends regular exercise to cut dementia risk
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
25 Sep 2023 - FMA's latest '5 mins with the FMA' podcast #8: KiwiSaver Annual Report https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/podcast/5-mins-with-the-fma-podcast-8-kiwisaver-annual-report-2023/
25 Sep 2023 - NZ Police Financial Intelligence Unit released “The Suspicious Activity Report” for July/August 2023 https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/fiu-monthly-report-jul-aug2023.pdf
25 Sep 2023 - ASIC is calling on Australian financial services and credit licensees (licensees) to ensure they remediate affected customers quickly and fairly, in line with ASIC’s guidance in Regulatory Guide 277 Consumer Remediation (RG 277). https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/news-items/asic-calls-on-licensees-to-strengthen-remediation-procedures/
AIA launches online adviser onboarding application
AIA NZ has launched AIA Adviser Onboarding, an online application for advisers that want to distribute AIA products. AIA Adviser Onboarding provides a pathway into the AIAHub portal and is a 100% digital experience. Benefits of the new system include:
· quicker processing times;
· reduced manual interventions and handovers;
· automated workflow, identity and due diligence checks which allows advisers to get started on mandatory learning in the AIAHub while their applications are in progress;
· advisers being able to upload education and professional development certifications into AIAHub once they submit their application; and
· ease of tracking applications.
More daily news:
AIA has appointed Smartshares to manage its closed unit-linked policies
Asteron Life's Mental Health Disability Management Program has had 31 referrals since inception
Katrina Shanks writes how automating expense payments can help you keep your finances organised
FMA's latest KiwiSaver annual report finds KiwiSaver reaches $94 billion in March 2023
Strategi finds inadequate record keeping is one of the most common compliance issues
The Adviser Platform team has won AIA’s Licensee Award for Business Innovation to Adviser Services
Quality Product Research: Medical – Update on Review of the Non-Surgical Benefit Score for Southern Cross
Following on from our earlier post, we are running a consultation on the score for Southern Cross medical insurance - Non-Surgical Hospitalisation. A review process is necessary to properly assess whether equivalent benefits are being paid under other aspects of the member benefits offered by Southern Cross and to consider the value of new benefits introduced. There appear to be significant differences in practice between different cover providers.
Timeline for review
Now – advise review started, receive and review claims information.
End of September - issue proposed rating and draft pack for research advisory board meeting.
Start of October – consult on proposed rating with industry.
Mid-October – consult with the research advisory board.
Your help with the review would be much appreciated. We note that there are substantial numbers of non-surgical stays at private hospitals, and we expect that the majority of these stays are covered by insurers, of which Southern Cross is the largest. We are interested in more specific examples of claims you may have had covered and paid by the non-surgical hospitalisation features of medical insurance. Please contact us on researcher@qpresearch.co.nz
We look forward to your response!
