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.
Swiss Re write about redefining sustainability in life and health insurance
Daisy Ning, Head Life & Health Re APAC ex. China, writes about how sustainability can be applied more broadly in the insurance and reinsurance context. Swiss Re believe sustainability aligns with what they refer to as the ‘3A’s’ of life and health insurance:
accessibility (the ease of acquiring coverage), availability (whether suitable plans and products exist to cover the full range of L&H needs), and affordability (whether products and plans are priced fairly and within consumers’ means).
Ning advocates for formulating strategies that manage risk, improve adaptability and explore opportunities – regardless of market conditions; assessing trends and value delivered to clients and adjusting as necessary; and enhancing value delivered to clients by making insurance solutions more relevant.
The global protection gap in 2022 was sitting at US 406 billion in premium equivalent terms, up 1.5% since 2021. A recent Deloitte estimate has the Australian public at 60 – 80% underinsured. A Swiss Re estimate of NZ’s mortality protection gap was USD 435 billion (NZD 670 billion) or more than USD 540 000 for each household, as of 2020.
Ning suggests we need to leverage connectivity and digitalisation to make products more affordable; leverage big data and advanced analytics to uncover insights into market trends, customer behaviour and risk factors and create products that address emerging needs discovered through this process; look at digital health underwriting; and increase reach through building alliances with online platforms, aggregators, fintechs and other digital players.
More daily news:
Katrina Shanks works through pros and cons of Trusts
Industry leaders suggest how incoming government can support the industry
mySolutions launches New Adviser Academy
FintechNZ Annual Meeting 2023 3pm on 23 November
ANZ awarded New Zealand's top bank for small business by Canstar NZ
Link financial group awarded one of the Best Mortgage Companies to Work for in New Zealand
Fidelity Life offer financial assistance for flood-hit customers
Fidelity Life are offering financial assistance for flood-hit customers in Queenstown, Gore and Southland. Customers facing financial hardship as a direct result of the flooding can apply to have their premiums temporarily waived for three months, with the potential to extend for a further three months, without it affecting their insurance protection. This is the same relief they have used for customers affected by other natural disasters including flooding in Tairāwhiti/Gisborne earlier this year and in the South Island last year.
Fidelity Life remind everyone of the importance of maintaining insurance cover even during times of financial difficulty, with Chief Customer Officer Peter Doherty saying
“This premium relief offer is one way we can show our support to our South Island customers, and we encourage anyone who’s facing hardship as a result of this extreme weather to contact their adviser to see how we can help. We know many New Zealanders are doing it tough right now and events such as this only make the situation worse.”
More daily news:
Tony Vidler writes of how benchmarking groups can help advisers see how they're doing
AIA New Zealand has appointed Michele Embling as an independent non-executive board member
ANZ has partnered with Age Concern New Zealand on scam protection
Paul Gregory from the FMA talks about how to avoid greenwashing
Healthcare Leadership Symposium is on 25 October
Centrix data shows there were 28% more mortgages behind on payments in August than a year earlier
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
Good Returns looks deeper at insurers following news of withdrawn benefit
Last week we wrote about Southern Cross refuting claims advisers weren’t informed about dropping a $60,000 a year benefit for non-surgical hospitalisations. Good Returns has followed up their earlier enquiries by approaching other insurers to find out their cover levels to see if Southern Cross’ citation of low rate of use was similar across other insurers.
While they were able to find out AIA has an equivalent $500,000 a year cover, nib maximum coverage up to $300,000 a year on Ultimate Health Max, Accuro Smartcare/Smartcare+ has cover up to $300,000 per year and Unimed Hospital Select Plus up to $65,000 per year they weren’t able to get specific claims amounts from any of the insurers aside from Partners Life.
Partners Life’s three largest categories of claim against this benefit last year were cancer, costing $12.4 million in payouts, digestive tract conditions, costing $9.1 million, and investigations and tests, costing $8 million, a stark contrast to Southern Cross’ 2019 review which found the now withdrawn benefit had paid an average of $414 per claim for 801 members and that most of the claims were for IV infusions or overnight accommodation associated with sleep studies.
Southern Cross’ head of customer strategy and experience, Nic Johnson, has previously said
“The majority of medical (or hospitalisation) claims at the time were already covered under existing benefits, such as the surgical procedures, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and diagnostic tests/imaging benefits”.
These benefits “more precisely defined coverage, and, to align with this approach, the non-surgical benefit was repositioned so that it more accurately reflected what members received.”
More daily news:
Southern Cross Health Society and ANZ awarded at the 2023 Red Hat innovation awards
AIA and Fidelity Life awarded Top Insurance Employers 2023
Partners Life has launched medical claims on the Fineos Platform
The ICNZ Scholarship is now open for submissions
AIA held its third annual NZ Peak Performance Summit
The New Zealand Underwriting Agencies Council’s (NZUAC) Expo is in October in Auckland
Fidelity Life announce Career connect Scholarship Recipients
Fidelity Life have announced the seven successful scholarship recipients for Career connect’s second intake. Career connect focuses on helping people from groups traditionally under-represented within the financial services sector to gain the qualifications and skills necessary to become a financial adviser.
Pounamu scholarship - to assist an outstanding Māori applicant: Josh Los’e (Ngāti Maniapoto), Auckland.
Kōwhai scholarship - to assist an outstanding Pasifika applicant: Nimmi Valia, Auckland.
Rangi Po Scholarship - to assist an outstanding applicant from other under-represented communities within financial services: Naveen Bhatia, Glenbrook.
Toe Toe scholarship - designed to assist an outstanding applicant aged 21-25 years old: Kiri Venkatesh, Auckland.
Pāua scholarship – to assist an applicant who demonstrates excellence in their submission: Chloe Balderstone, Lincoln.
Rural scholarships, brought to you by FMG – to assist two outstanding applicants with a rural connection:
Sara Buerki, Dunedin.
Alice Perry, Oamaru.
The current intake will complete the 6-month long programme in December 2023. The first intake of Career Connect graduates have completed their training programme and achieved their level 5 certificate in financial services.
Career connect graduates
More daily news:
Disability income products from Partners Life can now be customised for clients
Trustees Executors has partnered with AIA
NZ actuaries deliver revised rules-of-thumb for retirement savings drawdowns
Financial Advice NZ webinars 'The ever-evolving credit landscape: Trends, future predictions and informed decisions' 23 August and 'Rising financial capability and improved financial literacy - key findings from Massey University's longitudinal research study' 30 August
mySolutions roadshows 'To sink or swim: the power of prospecting' in September
mySolutions webinars 'Simple wills' 9 August 9am and 'Creating balance in your life and work' 16 August 9am
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission denies the sale of Suncorp Bank to ANZ
TSB Bank is closing seven of its branches
Long Covid disproportionately affecting women, who struggle to get a diagnosis and treatment
Calls for cancer treatment aftercare to become recognised step of regimen
Fidelity Life announce two key appointments
Leigh Bennett has been promoted internally to the role of Head of Underwriting. Leigh will be managing Fidelity Life’s 34-strong Underwriting team. She will be responsible in ensuring policy applications are assessed appropriately, making quality decisions and focused on achieving good customer and commercial outcomes. Most recently the Product Owner in the company’s digital team, Leigh has nine years’ experience in the life insurance sector.
Mat Bark has been appointed to the newly created role of Head of Channel Enablement. Mat is tasked with shaping Fidelity Life’s future adviser channel experience. This includes business ownership of new digital interfaces and platform innovation, modernising the legacy and in force servicing experience for advisers, and leading Fidelity Life’s Group insurance re-platform. Mat was previously Head of Existing Business at AIA.
Bronwyn Kirwan, Chief Sales and Service Officer at Fidelity Life says
“Following the delivery of some key transformation activities, we are now heavily focused on our distribution franchise and are delighted to announce the appointment of both Leigh and Mat in these critical leadership roles to help drive and enhance our engagement with advisers.”
More daily news:
Southern Cross Healthcare is recruiting for a Head of Platforms and Customer Services and a Head of Cyber Security
ANZ launch 5 in 5 with ANZ podcast
nib's top five medical claims for June released
The government has injected a further $225 million of capital into Kiwibank
Vaccine that protects against UTI’s available in NZ but not currently funded by Pharmac
Financial Advice NZ will run ‘Maximise your money 5-day challenge’ for Sorted Money Month
Financial Advice NZ are running a 5-day maximise your money challenge this Sorted Money Month. The campaign is split by different age brackets and aims to help people learn tips and strategies for establishing good financial habits.
1 – 5 August – Maximise your Money in your 20s
7 – 11 August – Maximise your Money in your 30s
14 – 18 August – Maximise your Money in your 40s
21 – 25 August – Maximise your Money in your 50s and 60s
Sorted is running a series of webinars over Money Month
1 August – Sort your everyday money
1 August – Banqer: Virtual Economy Experience (supported by Partners Life)
8 August – Sort your debt
15 August – Sort your savings
22 August – Sort your KiwiSaver
22 August – Mint Asset Management: Making cents of your money
More daily news:
Fidelity Life paid out $30m in Trauma and Trauma multi claims last year
AIA’s latest claims stats show 93% of claims accepted
Partners Life’s latest claims stats show 89% of claims accepted
Financial Advice NZ webinar ‘Super Wednesday hosted by our Risk MAC' 9 August
Finalists for Financial Services Council 2023 Awards announced
Consumer NZ calls for NZ banks to match what UK & Australia banks do to combat cybercrime
Astrud Burgess appointed as ANZ Group Chief Marketing Officer
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
10 Jul 2023 - Minister of Finance, Hon Grant Robertson, June 2023 diary released with the following potential financial services sector related meeting noted:
• 8 June 2023 – Meeting with RBNZ Officials
• 12 June 2023 – Meetings with Treasury Officials
• 15 June 2023 – Meeting with Insurance Council of Australia, Insurance Industry representatives
• 15 June 2023 - Meeting with Swiss Re
• 19 June 2023 – Meetings with Treasury Officials
• 20 June 2023 - Meeting with ICNZ President Toni Ferrier, Insurance Councillor Tim Grafton
• 20 June 2023 – Meeting with Treasury Officials
• 26 June 2023 – Meetings with Treasury Officials
• 26 June 2023 - Meeting with Minister Edmonds, Bank CEs, ASB, ANZ, BNZ
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-07/Ministerial%20Diary%20June%202023.pdf
10 Jul 2023 - The FMA are considering using our exemption power to exempt certain CREs from the requirement to include a link to their climate statements in their annual report, with conditions, for a period of two years. Submissions close 7 August 2023. https://www.fma.govt.nz/business/focus-areas/consultation/climate-related-disclosures-timing-challenge/
10 Jul 2023 - The RBNZ is providing affected entities with an opportunity to review the amended banking prudential requirement (BPR) documents before finalising the framework for the proposed mutual capital instrument. Affected entities have until 31 July to provide any further feedback. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/07/mutual-capital-instrument-rules-near-completion
Research updates: what you need to know!
QPR Database V15.2A released
Our Research team have made some monstrously good updates to the QPR database recently. If you’ve noticed we’re running a bit slower than usual, please refresh your page and scroll down to ensure that you’re on our latest version – QPR V.15.2A | WEB V4.3.9.
Our latest updates include:
Cigna rebrand to Chubb Life – this has been live on Quotemonster since the brands launch in March, however all rebranded documents can now be accessed by database subscribers.
Kiwibank rebrand to nib effective 1 June 2023 – more information on this here.
MAS - policy document update for Life & Income Protection effective 1 December 2021, with product rating changes in Income Protection (indemnity) – rating applied in Vocational and Rehabilitation Support .
Research for Partners Life Immediate Trauma Buyback and Asteron Life’s Continuous Trauma is available when Instant Trauma Buyback is selected.
ANZ – policy document update for Life & Living effective 6 March 2023, however, this has not affected product ratings.
Other Research remediations include:
Medical: Exclusions
Income Protection: Insurable Income and Inflation Adjustment
Trauma: Heart Attack
TPD: Benefit Definition over 65
If you have any questions regarding these please feel free to email us on info@quotemonster.co.nz
Happy Crunching!
PWC release Family Business Survey 2023
PWC’s Family Business Survey of key decision-makers in 52 family businesses across NZ had some interesting insights on what these businesses’ priorities and plans for the future are.
• 69% expect to grow over the next two years
• 90% have some form of governance policy in place
• 52% feel they have strong digital capabilities
• Only 10% actively protect and consistently communicate about how they use private data
• 35% of business leaders said they will focus on improving their digital capability over the next two years
• 35% have an agreed and communicated environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy
More daily news:
Naomi Ballantyne talks about how her exit strategy for Partners Life changed
Jon Davies says every insurance company needs to be looking at how they use technology and AI
ANZ and ASB are named as some of the top 20 employers in NZ
Study links ultra-processed foods and depression
Australian workplaces required to look after employees wellbeing
Nurses at Gisborne Hospital strike for health and safety reasons