Fidelity Life appoint new Independent Director

Scott Pickering has been appointed as an Independent Director on Fidelity Life's board. Pickering has a wealth of governance and insurance experience, currently serving on the boards of IAG New Zealand, IAG Australia and Bowls New Zealand, and he was previously on the board of Chubb Life in New Zealand and Australia.

Fidelity Life Interim Chair Lindsay Smartt says,

“Scott’s passion for the insurance industry and his dedication to mentoring make him a perfect fit for Fidelity Life.

His leadership and strategic insight will be invaluable as we begin deploying our new strategic plan, and chart a course for long term success.”

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Chubb makes multi-benefit discount permanent, extends 2 months’ FREE and 15% Lifetime Reward offers

Jon-Paul Hale espouses the need for Golden Life policies

The federal treasurer has approved of the sale of Suncorp Bank to ANZ

BNZ provides targeted support for customers affected by severe weather

Derek Chen has joined Strategi Group as Head of AML/CFT

ASB is teaching students how to spot fraud and scams in its new ScamWise workshop in schools

Government announces up to 26 cancer treatments to be funded as part of an overall package of up to 54 more new medicines

Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector

27 Jun 2024 - ASIC has approved a new version of the Australian Banking Association’s (ABA) Banking Code of Practice, which includes enhancements to key protections. The new Code will commence on 28 February 2025. https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2024-releases/24-136mr-asic-approves-enhanced-banking-code-of-practice/

27 Jun 2024 - The Council of Financial Regulators released an updated Regulatory Initiatives Calendar for the financial sector for Q1 2024. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/files/regulatory-initiatives-calendar/regulatory-initiatives-calendar-q1-2024-updated.pdf

27 Jun 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has released its Statement of Intent and Statement of Performance Expectations outlining what it intends to do to enable economic wellbeing and prosperity for all New Zealanders and how it will measure its performance. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/06/soi-and-spe-2024

1 Jul 2024 - ASIC is calling on AFS licensees to assess the accuracy of records about their financial advisers on the Financial Advisers Register after a spot check identified errors and inconsistencies in some of the information provided. https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2024-releases/24-142mr-asic-urges-afs-licensees-to-correct-records-on-the-financial-advisers-register/

Recent rate changes on Quotemonster

Dear Quotemonster users,

We are pleased to confirm that the following rate changes are live on Quotemonster effective 1 July 2024.

• nib Ultimate Health Max, and the Specialists and Test option

Please note no changes were made to Ultimate Health, GP and Prescriptions or Dental and Optical Options, click here to learn more about nib’s quarterly premium review.

• Southern Cross Wellbeing One and Two

Please note no changes were made to the GP and Prescriptions or Dental and Optical Options.

If you have any questions or comments on these changes please reach out to us on info@quotemonster.co.nz

Happy Crunching!

nib quarterly premium review results in price increases

As part of a quarterly review, nib have reviewed their health insurance premiums. The changes affect both current members renewing their policies and new policies sold this quarter. The changes for renewing customers are below, with the change in premium for each member varying depending on the benefits, options and excess they have selected, who the policy covers and whether the premium includes a policy fee.

Premiums included in quotations for prospective new members will be updated from 1 July 2024 and the new rates will be automatically updated in nibAPPLY. Quotations dated before 1 July 2024 will be honoured if the application goes into force within 30 days of the quotation date.

More details can be found on nib’s FAQ page or advisers can contact their nib Adviser Partner Manager.

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Michael Weston, Partners Life CEO, says how he plans to keep growth momentum

Fidelity Life increase their mandatory medical limit for BMI to 37

Fidelity Life ask advisers what their next adviser council should cover

Fidelity Life publish new, updated Working together guide

Fidelity Life extend adviser feedback survey deadline to 21 July

Financial Advice New Zealand webinar 'Professional Development Planning' 10 July

mySolutions webinar 'The Compliance Refinery - AML/CFT Changes' 3 July

The FMA and the Retirement Commission remind people to do a KiwiSaver health check

Complaint to IFSO results in ex gratia payment for clients

AMP’s former head of advice sues The Australian newspaper for defamation over what he says were false allegations he misled ASIC

Feedback requested on the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services

The Financial Advice Code Committee is seeking industry feedback on proposed amendments to the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services.

The consultation outlines three proposed amendments to the Code:

• Formally recognise version 3 of the Level 5 Certificate, noting those who can demonstrate their competence, knowledge, and skill by reference to version 1 or version 2 of the Level 5 Certificate, or an equivalent qualification don’t need to update their qualification.

• Retain the Level 5 Certificate qualification outcomes as the minimum standard for investment planning competence and remove the interim status of Code Standard 7.

• Clarify the requirements for continuing professional development in CS9.

Code Committee Chair Angus Dale-Jones said

“The proposed amendments reinforce the importance of continuing professional development for financial advisers. That’s fundamental for the availability and quality of financial advice for all New Zealanders.”

Submissions are due by 5pm on Wednesday 14 August 2024. The committee will give an online presentation about the consultation on Thursday 4 July, you register here.

More news:

Financial Advice New Zealand has launched its Connect Tour 2024

Megan Beer awarded Honorary Life Membership at the ANZIIF Outstanding Contribution Awards

Retirement Commissioner asks financial services industry to raise KiwiSaver report with politicians

Roxanne Salton talks about how insurance firms can counter phishing attacks

How to sign up to Quotemonster

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, watch our step-by-step guide to signing up to Quotemonster.

Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector

25 Jun 2024 - The committee stage of the Accident Compensation (Interest on Instalment Plans) Amendment Bill was completed and The Accident Compensation (Interest on Instalment Plans) Amendment Bill was read a third time. https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/00103c69-0b28-4ad1-a702-08dc80370942

26 Jun 2024 - The FMA are holding two Q&A session on CoFI fair conduct programmes on 3 & 9 July. https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/qa-session-on-cofi-fair-conduct-programmes-3444339

26 Jun 2024 - The FMA are holding an online session on how to apply for a financial institution licence on 24 July. https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/how-to-apply-for-a-financial-institution-licence-tickets-929411062507?aff=oddtdtcreator

26 Jun 2024 - The FMA have published their Statement of Intent and Statement of Performance Expectations. The Statement of Intent sets out how they will do their work, what they will deliver, and how they will measure progress over the next four years. The Statement of Performance Expectations sets out their performance targets for the financial year ahead and includes several new measures focused on guidance, engagement, and the delivery of streamlined systems. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/corporate-publications/statement-of-intent/

Fidelity Life announce mortgage cover enhancements

Fidelity Life has enhanced their Monthly mortgage repayment cover and Mortgage Protection Cover. From 20 June, the insurer is lifting the offsets thresholds for these covers from $5,000 to $7,500, providing greater certainty at claim time for customers with high incomes or large mortgages.

In addition, customers can choose to base their cover on 115% of their rent payments.

Chief Commercial Officer Bronwyn Kirwan says

“These enhancements deliver more support and security for customers, whether that’s through keeping more money in their pockets before offsets start to apply, or offering greater support for renters. By providing more options, we aim to help more New Zealanders get the cover that works for them.”

More news:

AIA webinar 'Selling Offer of Terms' 26 June

Finance Minister confirms new Pharmac funding policy will be announced soon

Steve Wright identifies areas where FAPs and advisers need to improve

Steve Wright has examined the FMA’s FAP monitoring report and gone through the findings to highlight areas advisers and FAPs need to keep their eyes on.

While the FMA was for the most part happy with the results of their monitoring visits to around 60 FAPs, they did highlight a number of gaps where improvement is needed. In particular, the FMA identified ‘tick-box’ approaches to compliance as a root cause of some of these gaps.

Some areas that were identified as needing improvement were proper oversight of advice; identifying and working to close knowledge gaps; a considered approach to continuing professional development (CPD) with the identified learning achieved and recorded; some situations where the advice given was ‘unsatisfactory’; consideration of clients’ future needs.

More daily news:

mySolutions webinar 'Camilla Tumai, Bizcap Offering' 26 June

Pinnacle Life has been shortlisted for the 2024 Best Places to Work Awards

Southern Cross Healthcare supports Bowel Cancer New Zealand’s awareness campaign

Southern Cross Healthcare organises volunteer beach cleanups

Tony Vidler discusses the importance of an individual brand

TAP introduce the TAP Adviser Steering Committee

AMP announce 23 of their funds have been certified by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA)

New research shows physical activity can clear brain toxins while simulating new neurons and connections

The US surgeon general seeks tobacco-like warning labels on social media platforms

Jon-Paul Hale critiques insurers' use of “MedSafe indicated” wording in policies

Jon-Paul Hale critiques insurers' use of 'MedSafe indicated' wording in policies, saying if clinicians and customers were more aware of what the wording meant they may change their treatment plans to ensure that coverage extends to the use of the medicine.

In policy wordings, “MedSafe indicated” can significantly limit access to treatment; where MedSafe guidelines include "indicated first-line treatment", this means the medication is only authorised for use as the first treatment. Hale suggests that clients consider any mediations with ‘first-line’ indications may wish to be treated with these medications first, as insurers are unlikely to approve them for later use.

What may surprise you is that many, many, medicines are prescribed that are outside Medsafe indications. Some are prescribed even though the medicine is unapproved for any purpose in New Zealand. Several insurers will not cover medicines that are unapproved. Obtaining a Medsafe approval for the use of a medicine can be time consuming and expensive. We are a small market and some disorders are rare. That means that while it may be economically viable to gain approvals in the United States and Europe, sometimes the New Zealand market may be too small for these companies to consider seeking approval economically viable, especially when some medical professionals will still prescribe an unapproved medicine.

At Quality Product Research Limited we are committed to ensuring that research scores are descriptive of these differences, which are increasingly important. There is a review of the non-PHARMAC coverage item in our health / medical insurance research which is being consulted on right now. If you would like to participate in the review please contact us. Results of the review will be announced at our forthcoming national roadshow which runs from 23 July to 29 August. Register for the roadshow, at a venue near you, here.

References:

Medsafe – about and role: https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/other/about.asp

Medsafe – use of Unapproved Medicines and Unapproved Use of Medicines: https://medsafe.govt.nz/profs/riss/unapp.asp#need

More daily news:

Partners Life a finalist in the ‘Insurer Innovation’ category at 'The World’s Digital Insurance Awards'

Partners Life campaign top in the 2023 Global Effie Rankings - insurance category

AIA recognised as one of the most diverse insurance companies

AM Best withdraws ratings for Accuro

Philip Macalister discusses research on areas advisers can improve in

Retirement Commissioner proposes 15 recommendations aimed at enhancing KiwiSaver

The FSC continues to call for review into KiwiSaver settings

Health New Zealand orders hiring freeze on all non-frontline roles