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.
Naomi Ballantyne joins The Adviser Platform Board
TAP Group has announced the appointment of Naomi Ballantyne as an independent director.
Naomi Ballantyne, ONZM, who has more than 40 years’ experience in the insurance industry and founded Partners Life in 2011, said
“Throughout my career I’ve proudly spearheaded some positive changes that have done great things for New Zealanders. I aim to continue that, helping the group stay ahead of the ever-changing insurance landscape and drive innovation that benefits the industry as a whole.”
More daily news:
Financial Advice NZ webinar 'Shaping the Future of Financial Advice in New Zealand' 19 June
Financial Advice NZ webinar 'How to use FMA's online regulatory return portal' 26 June
Chubb Life share their 2023 claims statistics
Chubb Life Support Person of the Year for 2024 was Amie Eves
Beth Marshall has been appointed to the role of Senior Group Business Partnership Manager
Chubb Life appoint Sebastian Krueger as Head of Technology
Study finds insurance and financial services experienced the highest increases in wage growth
nib looks to improve services to Māori
nib is looking to improve services to Māori communities by learning from indigenous health providers in other countries.
nib is looking to improve services to Māori communities by learning from indigenous health providers in other countries. Leadership from nib and Iwi partners involved in the Toi Ora project have recently returned from a study tour to Canada. Those involved met with Canada’s First Nations Health Authority, Pacific Blue Cross, First Nations Tax Commission (FNTC) and Squamish Nation to get insights into how these organisations deliver services to First Nations people in Canada and how these lessons could be applied in New Zealand.
Sarah McBride, nib NZ’s Head of Iwi Initiatives, said learnings included better ways to use existing funding, the importance of using health-related statistics and relevant previous cases to support new projects, and co-creation with local partners.
More daily news:
Potential CoFI change gives FMA power of onsite inspection without warning
Partners Life to launch new Underwriting Workbench
Michael Weston speaks about his plans for Partners Life
nib release their top five health claims for April
The FMA has highlighted the authorised body system as a potential problem area
Financial Advice NZ publish Budget 2024 Summary - Adviser to Client Resource
Entries open for Insurance Business’ 5-Star Insurance Innovators awards
MAS is looking for a Head of Private Wealth
Budget 2024 includes new health investments
Professor Lester Levy has been appointed as a member and Chair of the Board of Health New Zealand
Fidelity Life offers new customers 3 months' premium-free
Fidelity Life is offering new customers their first 3 months’ premiums free.
Fidelity Life is offering new customers their first 3 months’ premiums free. The offer applies to all eligible Platinum Plus, Platinum Plus Level Term, Mortgage Protector and NZHL Life policies that are:
illustrated between 1 May until 31 August 2024 and
applications are submitted within 30 days of the illustrations being generated and
a policy is issued within the 6 months of the offer period end date.
More daily news:
nib publish their top five medical claims
New Zealand Underwriting Agencies Council Expo 23 May
The Co-operative Bank win Consumer People's Choice Award
BNZ's net profit after tax for the six months to March 31 was $762 million
FSC reports 70% of Kiwis now frequently worry about their finances, the highest level since 2020
How you can provide info on your claims experience
Here’s how you can feedback on claims processes in Quotemonster, so we can ensure that we are rating the right things and we are applying the correct value to benefits and products. As always, we appreciate your feedback!
Trauma claims data infographic - QPR v15.7
Following on from our latest QPR database upgrade, we have also updated our Trauma claims data infographic to reflect the addition of a new minor condition – Cerebral Aneurysm.
Following on from our latest QPR database upgrade, we have also updated our Trauma claims data infographic to reflect the addition of a new minor condition - Cerebral Aneurysm. This is now available for download to all Researchmonster and Advicemonster subscribers and can be found in the Research Tools section of the main menu.
Happy Crunching!
AIA introduce new cover for prophylactic surgery following cancer
AIA have enhanced their on-sale health insurance products as well as eligible closed products to cover prophylactic or preventative surgery following an acceptable breast or ovarian cancer claim, subject to certain criteria.
AIA have enhanced their on-sale health insurance products as well as eligible closed products to cover prophylactic or preventative surgery following an acceptable breast or ovarian cancer claim, subject to certain criteria.
Previously AIA’s health insurance products specifically excluded preventative treatment including those related to cancer. The changes came about after a need was identified through customer feedback. Details of the changes are available here.
Insurers have been getting increased requests for preventative treatment to be available. One example of the media coverage is available at One News here.
Comments like this one sum up the media view: “If you had a very high cancer risk, but there was surgery available to cut that risk by up to 90% - that would be amazing, a no-brainer, right?” – well, it depends on what you mean by a ‘very high rate of cancer’. That risk must outweigh the risks associated with a preventative surgery. It will not be the same for all clients – and may vary depending on each person’s circumstances.
These trade-offs make it a much more difficult decision to make than funding cancer treatment itself. Insurers are conservative and usually wait many years to assess data to decide whether to cover different treatment types. That’s bad news for individual customers who have an expensive and difficult choice to make, but it helps protect the interests of hundreds of thousands of other customers, who need affordable cover.
More daily news:
Michael Hewes spoke about what an FMA monitoring visit is about
The FSC CEO Farewell + Financial Resilience Index Research Launch will be on 1 May
Financial Advice NZ webinar 'Te Ara Ahunga Ora/Retirement Commission' 27 March
Peter Mensah appointed to Regional Manager – North Island at Chubb Life
Chubb's new advertising campaign features Phil Thompson
Southern Cross announce winners of the Wayfinder Awards
The Retirement Commission asks for feedback on a shared measurement tool for financial wellbeing
Capgemini’s World Life Insurance Report 2023
Capgemini have published their World Life Insurance Report 2023, ‘The aging well opportunity: how trust and engagement can unlock growth for insurers’.
Capgemini have published their World Life Insurance Report 2023, ‘The aging well opportunity: how trust and engagement can unlock growth for insurers’.
This report looks at how people are living longer and healthier lives and the implications for individuals and organisations who will be impacted including life insurers, retirement advisers, pension providers, brokers and agents.
By 2050 3.2 billion people, 33% of the world’s total population, will be 50 years or older. The dependency ratio – the ratio of the dependent population (aged 65 and above) to the working-age population (aged 15 – 64) – of 15% today is predicted to increase to 26% by 2050. Currently 40% of the top 40 global life insurers’ assets under management are held by those 65 years or older – by 2040 most of these assets will be transferred to their beneficiaries aged 50+.
At a time of declining governmental support and increasing healthcare costs, individuals will need to shoulder more of the financial responsibility for aging well. The World Economic Forum predict the retirement protection gap (the difference between desired retirement income and actual income from pensions, savings and social security) will quadruple by 2050, to a staggering 400 trillion USD in markets with the largest and most established pension systems. In some cases, this will lead to those aged 65 and older having to work longer.
Worryingly, Capgemini’s 2023 Voice of the Customer survey of policyholders across 20 markets found that 60% of those 65 or older have not sought professional financial advice to prepare for retirement or to transfer their wealth. With demand for life insurance, long-term care services and financial advice predicted to skyrocket between now and 2030, there are plenty of opportunities for advisers to make their mark.
Consumers have called out product complexity (39%), limited awareness (39%) and lack of trust (28%) as their biggest obstacles to life insurance product adoption.
Capgemini have identified current gaps between what policyholders want and insurers can deliver, and steps insurers can take to foster deeper partnerships and enhance customer lifetime value. The steps include creating personalised and bundled aging-well propositions; streamlining the purchase experience; accelerating risk assessment; engaging more widely and frequently; and elevating the claims experience.
Capgemini call out the need for more advanced technology and more robust data analytics to help engage more effectively and productively with clients, delivering better recommendations and more personalised plans. They highlight the importance of delivering comprehensive and innovative aging-well value propositions that meet a broader range of customer needs. After all, strengthening relationships with aging policyholders and their beneficiaries is critical to safeguard assets under management.
Swiss Re write about Health and Wellness engagement impacts
Swiss Re have published a report on how to engage customers with a health and wellness programme.
Swiss Re have published a report on how to engage customers with a health and wellness programme. They write how the proliferation of health apps and wearables has led to consumers having more data about their health and lifestyle than ever before. Two thirds of consumers are open to sharing personal data or health results in return for a benefit, whether that’s personalised health advice, discounts or something else.
For insurers there are many benefits, from increasing the frequency of touchpoints, building customer loyalty and maximising lifetime customer value. For consumers the benefits include more relevant products, better price points, meaningful financial incentives and rewards and, best of all, improved health and longevity.
Swiss Re calculated that a successful program with a 25% engagement rate can be ROI positive, after accounting for the costs of launching and running the health and wellness engagement programme including policyholder rewards, premium reductions, initial setup costs and ongoing costs. If engagement rises to 40%, profitability can be up to 9% higher compared to not having a programme in place.
John Hancock in the USA is hiring behavioural scientists and drawing on gamification elements to help encourage policyholders to lead healthier lives. For example, when customers hit an activity threshold they can spin a wheel to win rewards.
Insurance Thought Leadership discuss the success of the Vitality programme. Vitality aims to increase people’s healthspan, the time in a person’s life where they experience optimal health, through a behaviour change incentive programme. Policyholders are nudged towards healthier lifestyle choices that they’re rewarded for in various ways including discounted premiums, discounts at places like gyms and free health checks. They list benefits of the programme to the insurer including reduced frequency and severity of claims, high engagement of policyholders and high levels of retention. Over the last three decades,
“Discovery's three-decade journey provides robust evidence that a significant increase in the level of physical activity reduces by 49% the mortality for individuals aged 45 to 65, and a remarkable 61% reduction for those older. Positive impacts have further manifested within annual medical expenditures, where the most engaged participants have 15% lower claim costs than the less engaged, risk-adjusted by age and medical conditions. A longitudinal study on the people who showed a low level of physical activity during the initial six-month period showed a subsequent 14% reduction in hospital medical costs for the subgroup that notably elevated their engagement levels over the ensuing four and a half years.”
AIA NZ have recently released statistics on how AIA Vitality has contributed to notable shifts in health metrics. By September 2023 there was a 20% increase in members moving from an unhealthy body mass index (BMI) range to a healthier one. Similarly, there was a 51% improvement in blood pressure levels, 26% in cholesterol levels, and 81% in glucose levels.
Fidelity Life release financial results
Fidelity Life has released its annual report and financial results for the year ended 30 June 2023.
Fidelity Life has released its annual report and financial results for the year ended 30 June 2023. Highlights include:
· Insurance premium revenue of $450.4 million, up 33% from FY22
· Total comprehensive income (net of tax) of $3.2 million, an improvement from their FY22 loss of $24 million
· Underlying profit, excluding the impact of government bond rate changes (net of tax), of $19 million
· Claims paid out in FY23 $209.7 million, up 27% from FY22
· 304,867 customers
· Market share of 15.7%
Fidelity Life resumed payment of dividends, with Fidelity Life’s shareholders receiving a full-year dividend of $8.013 per share. The dividend is unimputed as the Group continues to utilise brought forward tax losses.
Fidelity Life Chair Brian Blake says
“We expected the benefits of our Westpac Life acquisition to start materialising in FY23, and that’s proven to be the case. Our performance shows the business is in good shape and proving resilient against a weak economy and the high cost of living.
…In response to adviser feedback, we’re introducing a raft of new initiatives spanning the digital, product and service spaces to make it easier for advisers to do business with us, focus on growth, and together take our respective businesses to the next level.”
More daily news:
Deloitte Top 200 Business Awards finalists include staff from ANZ, ASB, The Co-operative Bank
ANZ Chief Marketing Officer Astrud Burgess named Effective Marketer of the Year at Effie Awards
Kiwibank received 6 awards, including the Grand Effie, at the 2023 Aotearoa Effie Awards
Ainsley McLaren talks about the investment needs and behaviours of women
CERT NZ create Own Your Online website, to raise understanding of cyber security issues
The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from 3.6% in the September quarter
Fraud Awareness Week is taking place November 13-18
Cancer patient advocates say health system reforms are taking too long
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