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
11 Dec 2023 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand publish an Analytical Note, looking at how New Zealand households’ inflation expectations respond to changing prices - what inflation is now and how that shapes what people think it will be in future. The Note found that household inflation expectations are more sensitive to inflation when it goes above 2 to 2.5 percent. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/12/households-tend-to-pay-more-attention-to-inflation-when-it-is-high
12 Dec 2023 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand have published the annual updated weights for the Trade Weighted Index https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/12/updated-weights-for-trade-weighted-index
12 Dec 2023 - APRA has released updated requirements for banks to better manage the impact of interest rate changes on their financial position. In a response to its November 2022 consultation released today, APRA has updated its revisions to Prudential Standard APS 117 Interest Rate Risk in the Banking book (IRRBB) aimed at:
reducing some of the volatility in the IRRBB capital charge;
creating better incentives for banks to manage their IRRBB risk, including raising standards of governance and measurement of risk; and
simplifying and removing complexities in the IRRBB framework.
13 Dec 2023 - Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Economic Objective) Amendment Bill has gone to Committee of Whole House https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/c2a1d856-adc2-4b6a-19e5-08dbfadead1f?Tab=history
Asteron Life sees uptick in lapse rates
Asteron Life’s executive general manager Grant Willis spoke to Good Returns about increasing lapse rates, levels offerings and changing adviser profiles.
Asteron Life’s executive general manager Grant Willis spoke to Good Returns about increasing lapse rates, levels offerings and changing adviser profiles.
Anecdotally, advisers are starting to see more household budgets under financial pressure. Willis said Asteron Life is seeing more cancellations and alterations to policies to reduce premiums and/or scale the sum insured back, despite having one of the best lapse rates in the industry. Willis highlights the importance of product flexibility during times such as these, with Asteron Life customers being able to pick different levels of cover, level of yearly renewable term and even the availability of inbuilt premium holidays that customers can take under specific pressure.
Willis talks about how he’s seeing a lot of new advisers coming though, younger people and perhaps people in second careers, plus children following their parents into financial advice.
More daily news:
FMA release the results of its annual Ease of Doing Business survey
Lifetime webinar 'Invest In Your Tomorrow: Enhance Your Financial Wellbeing' Dec 14
Gallagher Insurance is a new sponsor of the 103rd New Zealand Open
Foundation Advice Ltd owes around $8 million
Graeme Lindsay talks about the best health insurance to have
The FMA had an almost $6 million surplus for the 12 months to June 30
Research and website upgrades: what you need to know
QPR Database V15.6 has been released! Our Research team have made some monstrously good updates to the QPR database recently.
QPR Database V15.6 has been 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 – QUOTE ENGINE V.3.0 B1 | QPR V.15.6 | WEB V4.5.5
Our latest updates to Researchmonster include:
- Partners Life - new policy document for personal and business V19 effective 06/10/2023
- AIA - new policy document for AIA Living Personal/Business Life and Trauma effective 10/10/2023
o rating changes applied to:
· Life: ‘Grief & Funeral Support’
· Trauma: ‘Child Trama’ age, ‘HIV’, and ‘Advanced AIDS’
- ASB - new policy documents and rating changes applied to:
o IP/MP Lifestyle Security effective 31/07/2023
o Life and Trauma effective 10/10/2023
- Fidelity Life - enhancements effective 23/11/2023 and rating changes applied to:
o Life, Life Income, TPD, Trauma: ‘Special events’
o Life: ‘Grief & Funeral Support’ (reflects the introduction of the new Repatriation Benefit)
- MAS - new policy documents and rating changes applied to:
o Professional Life Plan effective 01/06/2023
· Life: ‘Grief & Funeral Support’
· TPD: ‘Counselling & Support Benefits’
· Trauma: ‘Child Trauma’, ‘Grief & Support Benefits’, ‘Upgrade Policy Wording’
o Income Security effective 28/08/2023
· Income Protection: ‘Dependent Leave Without Pay’, ‘Death Benefit’
- Unimed - new policy document effective 01/08/2023 and rating changes applied to:
· Minor Surgery
· Physiotherapy
- Reviews:
o Life: ‘Exclusions’
o Mortgage Protection: ‘Offsets’
o Trauma: ‘Cardiac Arrest’, ‘Future Insurability’, ‘Angioplasty’, ‘Diagnosis and Partial Benefits’
o Medical: ‘Overseas Treatment’, ‘Surgical Benefit’, ‘Mental Health Support, ‘GP Minor Surgery’, ‘Imaging’
Standalone Head to Head is a powerful tool subscribers can use to:
- Compare legacy products for replacement business – a list of the products available in this feature can be found here
- Compare products from the same provider; e.g., AIA Critical Conditions vs Progressive Care
- Compare different product sets; e.g., Severe Trauma vs Comprehensive Trauma
- Quick head to head research comparisons
Please note this feature is still in Beta version so please reach out to us if you have any feedback that you would like us to consider in our next round of development.
Our Health Benefit Maximums report available to Researchmonster and Advicemonster users, has also been updated to align with the updates in our research database. This quick reference guide aims to help advisers quickly identify some of the important differences when it comes to health cover benefit maximums. It doesn't include every individual niche benefit that some insurers offer, and some benefits can only be claimed on under specific circumstances (e.g., within 12 months of surgery).
If you have any questions regarding these please feel free to email us on info@quotemonster.co.nz
Happy Crunching!
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
10 Dec 2023 - The Australian Labor government will create a new regulation-lite category of ‘qualified advisers’ as part of controversial reforms unwrapped last week. Banks, insurers, superannuation funds and others will be able to employ advisers under looser regulatory controls than professional counterparts. Qualified advisers will focus on providing simple financial advice, will be prohibited from charging a fee and from receiving a commission, and they will be required to meet a Government-mandated education standard. https://investmentnews.co.nz/investment-news/reg-lite-institutional-advice-proposal-divides-australian-industry/
11 Dec 2023 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has confirmed that New Zealand’s largest banks are now compliant with their Outsourcing Policy (BS11). https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/12/major-banks-compliant-with-rbnz-outsourcing-policy
Legacy product rating projects (an update)
As of 8 December 2023, the following legacy product research is available in our Standalone Head to Head.
As of 8 December 2023, the following legacy product research is available in our Standalone Head to Head:
• ANZ Life and Living 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020
• ANZ Lifestyle Protection 2009, 2010
• Cigna LifeOne 2014
• Co-Operative Bank 2013
• Countdown Life 2014
• MAS 2016, 2018
• Momentum Life 2019
• nib Premier Health 2017
• nib Easy Health 2018
• nib Top Private Hospital Cover Plus 2017
• nib Stay Well Classic 1996
• nib Private Hospital Silver 2017
• nib Hospital Cover EasyCare 2017
• NZ Seniors 2022
• OneChoice 2019, 2021
• Southern Cross Regular Care 2018
• Southern Cross Ultra Care 2021
• Westpac Gold Term 2010, 2012, 2017
• Westpac Term 1990-1995,1995-2000
The following legacy product research has been rated and will be loaded to our Standalone Head to Head in the coming weeks. If you’re interested in a rating for one of these products or have a product that you believe we should rate, please reach out to us on info@quotemonster.co.nz
• AA Life 2009, 2016, 2018, 2017, 2019, 2022
• ANZ Life and Living 2010, 2018
• ANZ Lifestyle Protection 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2015
• ANZ Lifestyle Insurance 2014, 2015
• AMP Vital Plus Crisis 2020
• ASB Absolute Health 2012
• ASB Lifestyle Security 2007
• Asteron Smart Life 2004
• BNZ Flexi Card 2014, 2015
• BNZ BillAssure 2005
• BNZ Men’s ReCover 2004
• Cigna Bill Protection 2018
• Cigna LifeOne 2015
• Cigna Farmers Finance 1996/1998
• Co-operative Life 2018
• Greenwich Life 2018
• Guardian Assurance 1996
• Kiwibank 2010, 2018
• MAS 2013, 2017, 2021
• Mercer Bill Protection 2016
• nib Premier Health Business 2017
• nib Premium Hospital 2017
• nib Standard Hospital 2017
• nib Life & Living 2017
• NZHL 2019, 2021
• Pinnacle Life 2010
• SBS Bank 2014
• Sovereign Absolute Health 2010
• Tower Life 360 2011
• Westpac Gold Term 2018
• Westpac Term 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017
FSC’s latest Money & You research finds a perception gap between financial confidence and financial literacy
The Financial Services Council (FSC) have released their latest Money & You research findings. The research found a ‘perception gap’, with 82% of people feeling financially confident yet only 62% of people showing a real understanding of the four financial concepts tested.
The Financial Services Council (FSC) have released their latest Money & You research findings.
The research found a ‘perception gap’, with 82% of people feeling financially confident yet only 62% of people showing a real understanding of the four financial concepts tested.
Worryingly, the research found that 56% of New Zealanders aged 18 or older aren’t financially prepared for retirement, with that figure shooting up to 69% of women not feeling prepared for retirement. We are really keen to see this broken down by age group in future as we would expect most young people to feel the least prepared, and some of the group just pre-retirement to feature more of the better prepared. The fact that the figure rises sharply for women is probably a good reflection of the larger retirement gap that women face due to longer lives combined with, often, a gender pay gap, and also often, career disruption due to having children, which tends to make preparing for that retirement more difficult.
Of those in KiwiSaver, 42% are only contributing the minimum 3%, and 64% of employers are contributing the minimum 3% – leaving a vast gap between projected KiwiSaver funds at retirement and what’s needed for a ‘no frills’ retirement. It is hoped that other preparations are being made - such as paying off a home and investing in other ways. In practice we know that with a very high cost housing fewer will have paid off homes and that will also reduce the scope for non-KiwiSaver savings and investments for many.
The current cost of living is impacting people’s insurance buying behaviour. When it came to life insurance, the report found that expense was the highest reason for not purchasing insurance (63%) and 57% of respondents said they would take out an insurance policy if they had more money. 55% of people who had previously had health insurance have said that the cost of living is so high they can no longer afford it.
More daily news:
MAS are recruiting for a Healthy Practice Adviser in Wellington
Tony Dench calls on the government to give considered and deliberate engagement with the sector
Bruce Patten says he's seeing more people cancelling insurances
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
7 Dec 2023 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published findings of a survey on the sustainability of group life insurance in superannuation, undertaken by a sample of registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensees, life insurers and reinsurers. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-findings-of-survey-on-life-insurance-superannuation
8 Dec 2023 - The FMA has released findings from their annual monitoring of the audit regulatory systems and processes of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA). https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/reports-and-papers/accredited-body-report-new-zealand-institute-of-chartered-accountants/
8 Dec 2023 - The FMA has released findings from their annual monitoring of the audit regulatory systems and processes of CPA Australia. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/reports-and-papers/accredited-body-report-cpa-australia/
8 Dec 2023 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has reminded retailers to train new cash handlers on fake note detection https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/12/reserve-bank-reminds-retailers-to-train-new-cash-handlers-on-fake-note-detection
Q&A with Karty Mayne from Rosewill Consulting
We had the pleasure of talking to Karty Mayne, Director and Compliance Consultant at Rosewill consulting.
We had the pleasure of talking to Karty Mayne, Director and Compliance Consultant at Rosewill consulting.
What services does Rosewill Consulting provide?
Rosewill Consulting was set up with a mission to make compliance sexy! If we don’t think it is who will!
We provide Licensing and Compliance Services for financial services businesses. We also conduct independent audits and compliance reviews and provide specialist training. We have an online compliance and training system that has an extensive library of up-to-date professional development material.
What do you see as areas of focus in 2024?
Here are my top three…
Newly licensed entities, such as Financial Advice Providers, Head Groups and other types of licensees will need to have a strong focus on implementation. Being regulated requires creating a workplan and delivering on it. Initial policies and procedures may have design flaws or not be sufficiently robust so this is an important time to make those key adjustments.
On a wider scale, the world is facing ongoing increases in the nature and volume of cyber-attacks. Regulators such as the FMA have published a lot of guidance on this but from our experience regulated entities still need a lot of help in this area.
The pace of regulatory change hasn’t slowed up at all. 2024 will introduce new obligations such as additional AML/CFT Regulation, Conduct Licensing, Deposit Takers Act and the review of the Insurance contract law to name a few. Plus, the Coalition government will surely be adding to this list.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to start up Rosewill Consulting?
I was initially sceptical about moving into a risk and compliance role. However, I quickly learnt the importance of the role and the value it can add across an organisation. My time as a Regulator was an apprenticeship into all aspects of issues within financial services and gave me a broad insight to the challenges of all businesses, large and small. When I left, I wanted to share back what I had learnt to help strengthen the industry and provide a plain English perspective on governance, risk and compliance.
What area of compliance do you think Financial Advice Providers (FAPs) need the most help with? Do you see any changes to this with the new government coming in?
From our experience, most FAPs and their advisers still don’t really know the extent of their new regulatory obligations. I expect that the FMA will start to publish guidance to assist FAPs with implementation and help them mature their approach to complying with the regime. The Conduct Licensing is a great addition for New Zealand as it helps us lift our game for product providers and is great for consumers. Hopefully, the government has other priorities and lets the industry get on with meeting the fair conduct principles.
Could you tell us a bit about what your compliance and governance courses cover?
Over the last few years, we have been running course and coaching new Compliance Officers. Often the person has been thrown in the deep end and needs to have both the theoretical and practical understanding of their role. This year we added a focus on oversight and ran practical governance and compliance courses. The blend of running both together means that the business owners/directors can work through responsibilities with their compliance person and come with clear workplan for 2024.
What is one thing you wish someone had told you when you were younger?
To follow your passion and back yourself. I always knew that I wanted to run my own business and now wish I had got underway sooner. In saying that, I have loved every company I have worked for and each has taught me so much. It’s always the people around you who make the difference.
What’s the last book you read?
I just finished “Resurrection Walk” by Michael Connelly. It is part of a series about the characters of the Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller and Detective Harry Bosch. These books are now series on Netflix and so I had a resurgence of interest in reading the latest books! Easy holiday reading!
Disclosure: Quality Product Research Limited has used the services of Rosewill Consulting Limited and found them to be excellent.
More daily news:
Westpac wins five awards at the KangaNews Awards 2023
George Crosby has been appointed as the new chief investment officer for ANZ Investments
Suncorp appoints new Chief Customer Officer
Suncorp New Zealand has appointed Suraiya Phillimore-Smith as its new Chief Customer Officer, where she will be responsible for brand, marketing, communications, government relations and a growing sustainability function.
Suncorp New Zealand has appointed Suraiya Phillimore-Smith as its new Chief Customer Officer, where she will be responsible for brand, marketing, communications, government relations and a growing sustainability function. Phillimore-Smith is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Westpac New Zealand, and will move to her new role at Suncorp on March 4. Phillimore-Smith has a range of experience working with some of the world’s largest brands, having held a range of marketing, strategy, brand and communications roles at Westpac, Vodafone and Sony.
More daily news:
nib release holiday period dates for new Group Health and Group Life & Trauma quotes
Link Financial Group selected as one of NZ Adviser’s Top Mortgage Employers for 2023
AIA complete their annual pricing review to account for the latest change in the CPI
AIA webinar 'Eat Well - Webinar by Katie Hunter' 5 December
KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals double
Auckland Centre of Research holding 'Women in Finance' event on 8 December
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
5 Dec 2023 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has announced two key decisions following the second round of public consultation on its liquidity policy review (C2). They have decided they will not adopt the international liquidity metrics as their existing metrics work well and there would be a high cost to change them. They have also confirmed the assets that will be classed as liquid under their new policy, which will be comprised of Level 1 and Level 2 liquid assets. Level 1 liquid assets will include NZ Government Bonds and related instruments. Level 2 liquid assets will include Local Government Funding Agency securities and highly rated Kauri securities, and will be subject to a cap. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/12/key-liquidity-policy-review-decisions-announced
5 Dec 2023 - The Financial Markets Authority has published its annual report for the year to 30 June 2023. https://www.fma.govt.nz/news/all-releases/media-releases/fma-publishes-2023-annual-report/