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.
Demystifying Advicemonster [online session]
Over 2,000 Statement Of Advice (SOA) reports have been generated on Quotemonster in the last six months and we invite you to see why!
We welcome you to join our upcoming online Advicemonster training session scheduled on Wednesday, 8 November 2023 10:00 am-11:00 am
In this session, we have an in-depth walk-through of our Statement of Advice service and how you can create a professional and comprehensive SOA. Be the first to learn about our recent enhancements and ongoing developments from our new AdviceTech Lead, Aneel Ravji. Our Needs analysis and SOA tools are exclusive to the Advicemonster subscription and due to the advanced nature of the product, training can take between 60-90 minutes. This session is great to attend for those considering upgrading their subscription, or if you have already upgraded but would like to learn how to get the most out of it.
If you would like to register, please send us an email on aneel.ravji@qpresearch.co.nz
We look forward to seeing you there!
Fidelity Life updates
Fidelity Life have been busy.
They have launched a live chat function for advisers to be able to interact with new business and underwriting teams.
Fidelity Life will launch product enhancements in November including
increasing maximum monthly benefit percentages from 110% to 115% of mortgage repayments;
new trigger to increase cover as a result of buying an investment property, holiday home, residential block of land, or co-signing a child’s mortgage;
new trigger for when financially supporting a child through first course of full-time tertiary education;
special events - removing the exclusion for customers with loading >100%
future events & insurability - removing the exclusion for customers with non-standard terms;
increasing the maximum monthly benefit for Key person new to business from $4,000 to $6,500 and for Key person for farmers from $5,000 to $9,000;
rolling out new repatriation benefit to all inforce and new on-sale life covers (except Survivor’s income cover), which reimburses up to the lesser of either 10% of the life cover sum insured or $20,000, helping to cover the cost of repatriating a body home;
changing our Trauma Stand-down start date to when the customer submits their completed application instead of when they finish underwriting.
In coming months Fidelity Life will publish turnaround times for new business and call centre interactions.
Fidelity Life are offering special relief to weather impacted customers in Queenstown, Gore and Southland who are facing financial hardship. They have offered a waiver of premiums for up to 3 months while keeping cover in place.
Fidelity Life will roll out annual product re-accreditation training models in November, mandatory for all advisers working with Fidelity Life customers
Fidelity Life have published a ‘Working together guide’
More daily news:
Russell Hutchinson talks about how advisers can help their clients in tough financial times
Jenny Ruth criticises Southern Cross for pulling out of planned interview
Mark Banicevich, Industry Engagement Manager at Partners Life, provides views on governance
Policyholders to vote on Accuro and Unimed merger at special meetings
Financial Advice NZ webinar 'How to best advise and manage forestry assets' 15 November
Cyber Smart Week runs from 30 October – 5 November
FinTechNZ Roundtable – Competition for Personal Banking Services on 27 November
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
30 Oct 2023 - The FMA publish key findings from the 2022 re-licensing of Supervisors https://www.fma.govt.nz/assets/Reports/Key-findings-from-2022-Supervisor-relicensing.pdf
31 Oct 2023 - The FMA is reminding licensed financial service providers about the importance of cyber-resilience as part of Cyber Smart Week 2023 https://financialmarketsauthority.cmail19.com/t/r-l-tixdult-btuitpxk-t/
31 Oct 2023 - The FMA released Climate-related Disclosures – Scenario analysis information sheet, detailing compliance expectations of the FMA for scenario analysis disclosures made under the climate-related disclosures (CRD) regime https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/guidance-library/scenario-analysis-information-sheet/
31 Oct 2023 - ASIC has released its second publication on information lodged under the reportable situations regime. Over 16,000 reports were made to ASIC by financial services and credit licensees under the regime between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023. The publication shows little improvement has been made in key areas of concern that ASIC highlighted in the first publication on insights from this regime last year. Among other things:
the proportion of the licensee population reporting remains very low, indicating that some licensees may not be complying with the regime
licensees are still taking too long to identify and investigate some breaches
a significant number of remediation activities are still taking too long to complete, and
there remain opportunities to improve identification and reporting root causes of breaches.
31 Oct 2023 - Financial Inclusion is one of CoFR’s five priority themes. COFR has pulled together recent publications in this area include the RBNZ’s Approach to Financial Inclusion and a joint message from the FMA and the Commerce Commission on supporting customers in financial difficulty. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/priority-themes/inclusion.html
1 Nov 2023 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand release their November 2023 Financial Stability Report, which shows New Zealand's financial system remains strong and is well placed to handle the current adjustment to higher interest rates and more severe economic scenarios. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/11/financial-system-still-adjusting-to-higher-interest-rates
AI and its disruptive influence on the global economy
Capital Economics has an interesting discussion on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform the global economy, fundamentally changing how companies and economies operate. They show how technology adaption lags have been decreasing worldwide, with countries becoming ever faster to implement a new technology after it is invented. They also theorise that faster adopters generally reap larger productivity gains.
They posit that one of the biggest productivity boosts from using AI will come via one-off efficiency savings – doing more with existing resources or doing the same with fewer resources. In some cases, AI will replace human activity where it’s more efficient; other times AI will enable people to become more productive in their existing jobs. In other situations AI will be able to aid innovation, sifting through information to identify relationships and patterns that people might overlook.
Capital Economics have developed an AI Economic Impact Index, which assesses which economies are best placed to benefit from AI over the next couple of decades. Unsurprisingly, they rate the United States as best placed, due to their existing technological leadership, the size of their economy, level of public and private R&D spend and high levels of education.
Capital Economics suggest industries with repetitive tasks suitable for automation will adopt AI quickly. They also suggest industries with large datasets may be able to quickly initiate AI adoption for laborious tasks. Industries involving a lot of manual labour which cannot be automated and industries at greatest risk from adopting AI will be slower to implement its use. They stress that eventually AI’s influence will spread to affect all sectors of the economy.
A close-to-home example of how AI can help improve productivity is how Quotemonster is helping advisers become more efficient with opt-in AI functionality. Advicemonster users can use the ‘upload insurance quote’ function to save a pdf version of your insurer quote into the portal and the AI will automatically input in your Quotemonster Client and Benefit Details, speeding up the process substantially.
If you’re interested in finding out more about AI in regards to the financial services sector, a recent Chatswood Consulting Limited Quarterly Life and Health Sector Report has more information, including a discussion on the current challenges and limitations. Reach out to Kelly Pulham on 021 311 660 or kelly.pulham@chatswood.co.nz to find out more.
More daily news:
FSC finds Health Insurance Sector issued $1.8 billion in claims in the 12 months to 1 July 2023
Nominations for the Financial Advice New Zealand Awards 2024 open
MinterEllisonRuddWatts discuss Australia’s proposed regulatory framework for digital asset platforms
Household living costs up 7.4% in the last year
Nurses warn dire staffing shortages in ED are putting workers and patients in danger
Survey finds small business owners are facing more wellbeing challenges than other NZer’s
A Xero survey has found that while kiwi small business owners are faring better than their overseas counterparts, they are facing more wellbeing challenges than other New Zealanders.
Of the seven countries surveyed, Kiwi small business owners ranked third in overall wellbeing rankings and first in overall life satisfaction. The survey found that NZ small business owners fared better than other countries when it came to financial distress, with just 14% experiencing financial distress most or all of the time and 28% never experiencing it.
There were age and gender-related differences in kiwis wellbeing as well as differences between sole traders and small business owners with employees. Under 30-year-old small business owners reported lower overall wellbeing than those over 50. Men were more likely to feel fulfilled by the work activities they engage in all or most of the time than women (63% vs 49%). Sole traders were found to have a lower life satisfaction level than small businesses employing staff.
The survey also found that running a small business is taking a toll on kiwis’ ability to take a break, with only 17% saying they can take a break when needed all of the time and 6% saying they are unable to take time off work regularly when needed. 35% of NZ small business owners found their personal lives disrupted by work more than half the time.
More daily news:
Nominations for the Financial Advice New Zealand Awards 2024 open
Chubb Life remove medical loading conditions on their 10% Lifetime Reward benefit
Chubb life have removed the medical loading conditions from their 10%…
Chubb Life have removed the medical loading conditions from their 10% Lifetime Reward benefit from 25 October 2023. This means all new Life, Life Income and Trauma insurance customers who, at the time of taking out an Assurance Extra or Assurance Extra Business policy have a healthy BMI measurement of between 18.5 and 24.99 and are non-smokers, qualify for the benefit. The 10% discount is guaranteed for the life of the customers policy and will be applied to the risk premium for the eligible covers. FAQ’s around the 10% Lifetime Reward benefit can be found here.
More daily news:
nib launches national adviser seminar series
Katrina Shanks named as new chief executive for ANZIIF
Katrina Shanks writes how people can apply the drawdown rules of thumb for retirement
Southern Cross Health Insurance announces panel of judges for Wayfarer awards
Southern Cross Healthcare recycles 10,000 disposal lens delivery systems
Financial Advice NZ webinar 'The business of merger and acquisition' 8 Nov
FSC announce group discounts for FSC24: Trans Tasman Strategic Leaders Summit
FSC's Workplace Savings End of Year Networking Function 7 November
FDRS Members' Forum and Annual General Meeting 31 Oct
Westpac suggests allowing mutual recognition of AML/CFT due diligence across banks
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!
