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.
Research Discussion: medical insurance non-surgical claims
Quality Product Research (QPR) welcomes you to join Russell Hutchinson, Director of Quality Product Research, Doreen Dutt, Research Manager, and special guest, Jon-Paul Hale, Life Insurance Adviser from Willowgrow Consulting, for an in-depth discussion on medical insurance non-surgical claims.
This meeting will be held over zoom on Tuesday, 7 November 2023 11:00 am to 12:00 pm and will include the following:
Background information and QPR’s re-rating process
An overview of the benefit change and recent updates, from Jon-Paul
Options to reflect the product changes in rating
Time allocated for attendees to ask questions and provide feedback, specifically we are interested in hearing examples of relevant claims
Our blogs on the topic are linked below and more articles from Jon-Paul can be found on Good Returns:
https://www.chatswood.co.nz/home/i3xolkjs923or7z6hbieu23p87tk4q
https://www.chatswood.co.nz/home/y2elvh3b8ltl7faxpqwglj8ghjiiq0
If you are interested in joining our research discussion, please send us an email on researcher@qpresearch.co.nz and we will reply with a calendar invite.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
24 Oct 2023 - ASIC has signed the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU), an international supervisor cooperation and information exchange agreement. The IAIS MMoU provides a global framework of compliance and confidentiality to allow for open cooperation and exchange between insurance supervisors. To become a signatory to the MMoU, applicants undergo a rigorous assessment of their professional secrecy regimes, conducted by an independent team of IAIS members. Through membership in the MMoU, supervisors can exchange relevant information and assist other signatories, thereby promoting the financial stability and sound supervision of cross-border insurance operations for the benefit and protection of consumers. https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/news-items/asic-signs-mmou-with-the-international-association-of-insurance-supervisors/
24 Oct 2023 - This year’s Sir Bruce Slane Memorial Lecture on the topic of "Balancing privacy and other interests in the social media age" will be held on 6 December https://privacy.org.nz/news/forums-and-seminars/register/
25 Oct 2023 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its Operations of Private Health Insurers Annual Report for the financial year 2022-2023. The Operations of Private Health Insurers Annual Report shows expenses, revenues and operational information about private health insurers. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-operations-of-private-health-insurers-annual-report-2
27 Oct 2023 - Financial Services Council released its KiwiSaver Industry Spotlight statistics for the Sep 2023 quarter. https://7422267.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7422267/FSC%20Corporate/Documents/Industry%20Statistics/SPOTLIGHT%20KiwiSaver%20SEP%202023.pdf
27 Oct 2023 - Chapter Zero publishes governance outtakes from their climate change and business conference https://www.chapterzero.nz/news/behavioural-change-for-climate-change/
What is a signature?
There has been some excellent material written about which insurance companies accept which types of digital signatures, and for which types of documents. But have you considered the simple emoji. Kirsten Patterson, CEO of the Institute of Directors mentioned in her recent news email that a case in Canada considered the use of the ‘thumbs up’ emoji to be acceptance of a contract:
From Patterson’s email:
Another question for you: When is an emoji a business risk? The answer is when you use a “thumbs up” to agree to a contract. That’s the lesson of Canadian dispute where an emoji was deemed as official as a signature.
I can’t say I have ever used emojis in a formal business context but it is interesting to see how courts are beginning to interpret this new – and usually innocuous – form of communication. Find out more in the article below.
Context does count, as you will read if you check out the details, at this link: https://thelawassociation.nz/canadian-judge-accepts-thumbs-up-emoji-as-binding-in-contract-dispute/ but nonetheless, you can see how formality in our contracting is valuable. One man’s thumbs up could mean ‘yeah, I hear you, I need to look at that contract’ while the receiver hears ‘I agree to the contract terms - go ahead’.
This is a reminder, especially for those of us who have built a larger business out of a smaller one, that governance processes are not a hindrance to day-to-day activity, they are there to keep stakeholders in the business safe and ensure clear communication and consistent expectations about what the business will and will not do.
Thanks to Wikimedia commons for the Thumbs up logo, under creative commons license
Quotemonster Online Training (with tips and tricks)
Over 2,500 Financial Advisers in New Zealand have crunched over 15 million quotes in the last 12 years using Quotemonster, and we invite you to see why!
We welcome you to join our upcoming introductory training session scheduled on Monday, 30 October 2023 1:00 pm-2:00 pm
In this session, hosted by Kelly, our National Partnerships Lead, we go over the basics of using Quotemonster and how to make the most of your Researchmonster subscription along with:
How to generate a premium comparison between insurers
How to set up your Product and Provider Settings screen
How to directly compare two insurers for replacement business (Head-to-Head)
How to download our detailed comparison and client-friendly benefit overview or heat map report
How to add banks and non-adviser companies to your Research comparison
How to find legacy policy documents
If you would like to register for this session please send us an email on info@quotemonster.co.nz
We look forward to seeing you there!
nib release their 2023 State of the Nation Parenting Survey
nib have released their 2023 State of the Nation Parenting Survey, which has found parental concern for children’s mental health has skyrocketed and shows just how severely the current cost of living crisis is affecting families. The survey canvassed the views of 1,206 parents, step-parents and guardians across NZ in June 2023.
Some of the key findings include:
46% of all parents say their biggest worry for their children is the future state of their mental health (up from 40% in 2022).
57% say they are worried about their children’s current mental health.
49% of parents say they are concerned about their child’s physical health (which increases to 59% of Māori parents).
Parents reported the top three physical health concerns impacting their children as sleeping problems (34%), behavioural issues like tantrums, problematic eating and bullying (28%) and diet and exercise (25%).
46% of parents have health insurance (up from 44% in 2022), with 64% having made a claim. Key reasons for taking up private health insurance were peace of mind (52%), quicker access to health services (48%) and confidence they can access health services (48%).
31% of parents are unable to access the support they need to address their child's health concerns.
The survey found that almost all kiwi parents were facing financial stress (93% of households).
49% of parents said financial uncertainty is the main source of household stress (up from 41% in 2022 and 35% in 2021).
66% of parents’ top concern for their kids’ future is cost of living.
19% of parents have gone without essentials such as petrol, heating or skipping meals over the last year.
Food choices are being impacted by increasing financial pressures, with 52% of parents saying they are eating less or differently; 23% keeping grocery spend the same but eating less; 51% eating less fresh vegetables; and 40% eating more processed foods.
Parents have said that increasing costs are negatively affecting their relationships and social lives with 31% reporting a negative impact on their relationship with their partner, 42% having their social lives and connection to friends negatively affected and 25% experiencing a negative impact on the amount of time spent with their children.
14% of families are choosing to delay having more children.
13% of families’ main caregiver is needing to return to work.
Nathan Wallis, nib’s resident parenting expert and neuroscience educator has some tips for families doing it tough right now.
“Parents are under increasing financial pressure and many feel like they don’t have the time, energy or resources to care for their kids and look after themselves but it’s really important that parents find ways to look after their own wellbeing”.
“It’s really important that parents look after their own mental and physical health so that they can show up for their kids. Proactively looking after your own health and wellbeing also has the added benefit of role modelling good behaviours to your kids. When parents role model healthy eating habits and exercise their kids tend to follow”.
“It might be as simple as coming together for a family meal or taking the kids for a walk or kick a ball around at the park. These healthy habits are great ways to bond with your kids and set them up for success”.
More daily news:
Southern Cross Health Insurance launch Wayfinder Awards
Southern Cross Health Society is recruiting for a Communications Executive
Fidelity Life has two finalists in the NZ Women in Security Awards
AIA, ANZ, BNZ, Westpac have finalists at the NZ Law Awards
Financial Services Federation director wants to salvage something from CoFI preparations
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
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
17 Oct 2023 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its Life Insurance Claims and Disputes Statistics publication, covering a rolling 12-month period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-and-asic-publish-latest-data-on-life-insurance-claims-and-disputes-7
18 Oct 2023 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its 2023 authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) points of presence statistics.
The points of presence statistics are a detailed listing of the physical banking service channels provided to Australians, including branches, ATMs and EFTPOS facilities. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-latest-points-of-presence-statistics-for-authorised-deposit
19 Oct 2023 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released observations on credit risk provisioning practices for locally incorporated authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs). https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-observations-on-credit-risk%C2%A0provisioning-practices-for-locally
19 Oct 2023 - The FMA has reviewed an existing class exemption notice that allows product disclosure statements to be provided in full in both te reo Māori and English (dual language PDSs) and granted the extension to continue this relief. https://www.fma.govt.nz/business/focus-areas/consultation/dual-language-te-reo-maori-pds/
20 Oct 2023 - Peter Boshier, Chief Ombudsman, publishes his 2022/2023 Annual Report https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/news/trust-and-demand-ombudsmans-services-higher-ever
Industry-relevant changes as new government is ushered in
With Labour soon to hand over control to a National and ACT led government (perhaps with support from NZ First), the question on everyone’s lips is what does this mean for our sector?
National have previously come out against the proposed Income Insurance Scheme, with Christopher Luxon calling the levies required to fund the scheme a ‘job tax’. One of National’s 100 day action plan pledges is to stop work on the so-called ‘job tax’. This change could be seen as a positive move as last year Risk Info NZ ran a poll with 80% of respondents not supporting the introduction of a state-backed income insurance scheme.
National promised to repeal the Conduct of Financial Institutions Act (CoFI), due to come into force in March 2025, which they’ve said “makes credit more expensive and harder to obtain even for basic services such as overdrafts and mortgages”. Meanwhile, Katrina Shanks, chief executive of Financial Advice NZ, has said it would be ‘preferable’ to tweak CoFI, rather than scrap it altogether, as the industry is very supportive of legislation that endorses good conduct and culture within the sector.
National has promised to roll back measures brought in by Labour including the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA), with their rebuilding the economy plan saying they will “Cut financial red tape that is stifling investment, including significantly reducing the scope of the CCCFA which has restricted access to credit.”
National has said they will allow people to split their KiwiSaver between multiple providers, which they say will ‘drive innovation, boost competition and put downward pressure on fees’, though industry players have reservations around the complexity and added costs of doing this. Another tweak to the KiwiSaver scheme they have promised is allowing young people to use their retirement savings to pay a rental bond. Instead of tinkering with the scheme, the FSC is instead calling for a comprehensive review of KiwiSaver settings.
One of the agenda items on National’s 100 day action plan is to remove the Reserve Bank’s dual mandate (of managing inflation and supporting maximum sustainable employment) to get the RBNZ purely focused on getting inflation down to targeted levels.
From a health perspective, National’s 100 day action plan includes extending free breast cancer screening for women aged up to 74, from the current cutoff of 69 years of age. National have said they will allocate $280 million in ring-fenced funding to PHARMAC over four years to pay for 13 cancer treatments not currently funded in NZ. National have said they will deliver faster access to mental health services through their Mental Health Innovation Fund, which will initially see up to $20 million in matching funds distributed to community mental health organisations who are delivering strong results for Kiwis in need. They have pledged to extend free postnatal stays for mothers of newborn babies to three days and provide free continuous glucose monitors to type 1 diabetics aged under 18.
National’s five major targets for health will be:
· Shorter stays in emergency department – 95% of patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency department within six hours.
· Faster cancer treatment – 85% of patients to receive cancer management within 31 days of the decision to treat.
· Improved immunisation – 95% of two-year-olds receiving their full age-appropriate immunisations.
· Shorter wait times for first specialist assessment – a meaningful reduction in the number of people waiting more than four months to see a specialist (target to be set in government).
· Shorter wait times for surgery – a meaningful reduction in the number of people waiting more than four months for surgery (target to be set in government).
To attract and retain more healthcare workers they have said they will incentivise more people to study nursing and midwifery with a bonding scheme that will pay their student loan for five years if they commit to working in New Zealand. They have said they will establish a relocation support scheme, offering up to 1000 qualified overseas nurses and midwives relocation grants worth up to $10,000 each to support their move to New Zealand. National have pledged to establish a third medical school at the University of Waikato, with satellite training centres in regional areas. They’ve also said they will increase the number of medical school placements at Auckland and Otago by a total of 50 per annum from 2025.
We will be closely following these proposals and will report back as and when things change.
More daily news:
Chubb Life underwriting masterclass 24 October
FMA publishes latest 'Money with Mary' about investing more ethically
NZ's annual inflation rate dropped to 5.6% in September, from 6.0% in June
More people worldwide are now dying of non-melanoma skin cancer than melanoma
AIA updates the benefits of its living products
AIA has released a raft of changes updating the benefits that apply to its living products covering critical conditions, progressive care, life cover, and family protection, including changes to selected closed Sovereign, TotalCareMax, AIA Trauma and AIA Life Cover products.
Some of the key changes, which are applicable to new claim events on or after 10 October 2023, include:
· The minimum coverage age for standalone children’s trauma has been lowered from two years to three months.
· Extension of the life buyback reinstatement period from 30 to 60 days.
· Removed the benefit for new business that pays on the diagnosis of medically or occupationally acquired HIV, and introduced a new benefit that pays on the diagnosis of advanced AIDS – regardless of transmission method.
· Changed the terminal illness definition to clarify that life expectancy is less than 12 months, despite all reasonable medical treatment.
· Increased bereavement support benefit from $15,000 to $25,000 in cases where there is joint policy ownership.
· Removed the 5% limit to pay up to $20,000 as an early payment if the life assured dies overseas to return their body to either New Zealand or their home country.
More daily news:
Partners Life has updated its underwriting guide
Southern Cross new naming rights sponsor of Wellington Round the Bays
nib says insurance can help families navigate increasing mental health concerns
MAS appoints Matt Harvey as Chief Distribution and Marketing Officer and Craig Ward as Chief Innovation and Digital Officer
FSC webinar 'Leading Lawyers Australia' 31 October
Jon-Paul Hale believes some providers are asking advisers for too much
ACC fund slips from ‘responsible investment leaders’ to ‘responsible investors’
New AI tool diagnoses brain tumours on the operating table and helps surgeons decide how to operate
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
12 Oct 2023 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have published two joint discussion papers on plans to enhance the data collections for the life and general insurance industries. APRA and ASIC plan to collect more granular data as part of the Insurance Data Transformation (IDT) project, which will enable regulators, policymakers and insurers to undertake a more comprehensive assessment of the risks facing the industries. APRA and ASIC invite written submissions on the discussion questions by 22 December 2023. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-and-asic-release-consultation-on-general-insurance-and-life-insurance
13 Oct 2023 - Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hon Dr Duncan Webb, September 2023 diary released with no financial services sector related meetings noted https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-10/September%202023%20Proactive%20Diary%20Hon%20Dr%20Duncan%20Webb.pdf
13 Oct 2023 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published its Annual Report for the 2022-23 financial year. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-publishes-2022-23-annual-report