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.
Partners Life appoints new Chief Risk Officer
Partners Life has appointed James Greig as Chief Risk Officer.
Partners Life has appointed James Greig as Chief Risk Officer. Greig joins from Southern Cross Health Society, where he is the Head of Risk. Greig has more than 20 years’ experience across insurance and business roles in both New Zealand and Australia. He has held senior positions across strategy, operations, technology and risk roles, including six years as Director of Supervision at the Financial Markets Authority.
More news:
Nominations open for Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards
NZUAC's 2024 Auckland Expo is on August 27
ANZ is being investigated by ASIC over allegations it manipulated Australian government bond sales
The Government hints they’re open to selling Kiwibank to enable it to grow
Lending and investment company Squirrel has been the target of a cyber attack
Michael Weston talks about how he wants to take Partners Life forward
In an interview on Good Returns TV, Michael Weston, new CEO at Partners Life, talks about how he wants to move Partners Life forward.
Good Returns TV has an interview with Michael Weston, Partners Life CEO. Weston says in the four months he’s been in the role, he’s been spending a lot of time with our advisers, getting to know the regulators and key business partners.
Weston talks about how he’s working to continue the values and the culture of the brand and as he goes forward he’s concentrating on what the next stage of growth for the company will look like, looking to spot unserved needs and ensure Partners Life has the right capabilities in place. He wants to keep focusing on innovation and in terms of the business environment currently, looking at making their solutions simpler and more accessible to a wider range of New Zealanders.
More news:
mySolutions webinar 'New mySolutions Member Benefit - myGrowth Platform' 31 July
Fidelity Life roll out enhanced GP lookup feature for their new E-App
Last week for Fidelity Life's customer engagement initiative
nib offer customers 3 months free on Easy Health, Ultimate Health or Ultimate Health Max policies
Partners Life partner with Banqer for annual Money Month Challenge
David Carney talks about the role of AI in financial advice
The Financial Services Federation signs up mortgage advisers as affiliate members
Kiwibank creates content series focusing on first homeownership
AIA release 'Claims Compass' report analysing claims data
AIA have released a new report ‘Claims Compass’ analysing their claims data. Cancer was responsible for AIA’s highest number of claims across all insurance categories last year.
AIA have released a new report ‘Claims Compass’ analysing their claims data. Cancer was responsible for AIA’s highest number of claims across all insurance categories last year, with AIA paying out $133.9m for life insurance claims for cancer and $244.1m for cancer claims across all categories. AIA’s top cancer claims in 2023 were breast cancer (33.4%), melanoma and skin cancers (20.3%), bowel cancer (6.5%), prostate cancer (6%) and lung cancer (4.6%). Cancer is the leading cause of death and serious illness in New Zealand, with 71 people diagnosed with cancer every day in New Zealand.
Angela Busby, AIA NZ Chief Customer Officer, said
“Almost every New Zealander will have some experience with cancer throughout their lifetime – whether that’s personally or through a friend, neighbour or loved one…”
“The prevalence of these cancers highlights the critical importance of regular screening and taking preventative measures to manage your health and encouraging loved ones to do the same.”
“Because while developing cancer might appear to be something that is beyond our control, we know that early detection is the best form of protection. Many cancers can be successfully treated if diagnosed early, with an estimated one in three people recovering in New Zealand.”
AIA accepted 92% of all claims for the year ended 31 December 2023, paying out $734.8m. Of the total paid, $263.5m was paid out in life insurance claims and $143.1m was paid in health claims. The image below shows the reasons for claims across AIA’s life, health, trauma, income protection and total permanent disablement categories.
Poll finds expectation of higher growth in health insurance advice than life insurance advice
A riskinfoNZ poll has found that advisers are expecting to see more growth in health insurance advice than life insurance advice in the near future.
A riskinfoNZ poll has found that advisers are expecting to see more growth in health insurance advice than life insurance advice in the near future. Currently, 41% of respondents expect health insurance to generate the most business, compared to only 23% expecting life insurance to generate the most business. 30% of respondents expect a 50/50 split between health and life insurance advice.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, what do you see the split as being in your organisation over the next 6 – 12 months?
More news:
MAS looking for a Life and Investment Centre Manager
Kiwibank has pleaded guilty to systemic breaches of the Fair Trading Act
Workers are choosing work-life balance over a better salary
NZ’s CPI showed annual inflation fell to 3.3 per cent in the June quarter
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
Office of the Privacy Commissioner asks for submissions on guidance; RBNZ activates DTI restrictions; FMA holds webinars on how to apply for a COFI licence and how to submit FAP regulatory returns; FMA publish findings from monitoring FAPs; The Accident Compensation (Interest on Instalment Plans) Amendment Bill was introduced to Parliament; APRA emphasise importance of data backups; CEO of the External Reporting Board resigns; COFR release latest Quarterly Statement; RBNZ releases dates for Monetary Policy Statement publication; Commerce Commission files criminal charges against Kiwibank
22 May 2024 - The Office of the Privacy Commissioner asks for submissions on new guidance, Poupou Matatapu – doing privacy well. https://privacy.org.nz/news/consultations/poupou-matatapu/
28 May 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand - has confirmed the activation of Debt-to-Income (DTI) restrictions and loosening of Loan-to-Value Ratio (LVR) restrictions. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/05/reserve-bank-activates-debt-to-income-restrictions
30 May 2024 - The Financial Markets Authority is holding a webinar on how to apply for a CoFI licence at 11am on 5 June. To attend, email cofi@fma.govt.nz
30 May 2024 - The Financial Markets Authority publish findings from the FMA’s supervision activities and monitoring of Class 1 and 2 licensed financial advice providers. https://www.fma.govt.nz/news/all-releases/media-releases/fap-monitoring-insights-report/
30 May 2024 - The Financial Markets Authority is holding a series of online sessions to help Financial Advice Providers submit their FAP regulatory returns.
Session 1 - Friday 14 June 2024 at 9am
Session 2 - Monday 24 June at 2pm
Session 3 - Monday 08 July at 10am
Session 4 - Tuesday 16 July at 10am
30 May 2024 - The Accident Compensation (Interest on Instalment Plans) Amendment Bill was introduced to Parliament https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/00103c69-0b28-4ad1-a702-08dc80370942?Tab=history
3 Jun 2024 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has written to all APRA-regulated entities emphasising the critical role of data backups in cyber resilience. The letter details the common issues observed in backup practices that could hinder system restoration during an incident. APRA expects regulated entities to review their backup arrangements and address any identified gaps promptly. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-clarifies-expectations-on-cyber-security-and-adequacy-of-backups
4 Jun 2024 - The Chief Executive of the External Reporting Board (XRB), April Mackenzie, has resigned. https://www.xrb.govt.nz/news/latest-news/
7 Jun 2024 - The Council of Financial Regulators release their Quarterly Statement for June 2024. Kris Faafoi joined the meeting to discuss the insurance sector’s priorities, risks, and challenges. The conversation covered three priority areas: 1) insurance affordability; 2) resilience; and 3) the regulatory environment. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/news-and-publications/quarterly-statement-by-cofr-june-2024.html
11 Jun 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has released the dates for publication of its quarterly Monetary Policy Statement, Monetary Policy Review decisions and the 6-monthly Financial Stability Report. The new dates cover the period from August 2025 to July 2026. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/06/monetary-policy-announcement-and-financial-stability-report-dates-for-late-2025-and-2026
11 Jun 2024 - The Commerce Commission has filed criminal charges against Kiwibank Limited (Kiwibank), alleging systemic breaches of the Fair Trading Act. The breaches relate to issues that resulted in more than $7 million being incorrectly charged to over 36,000 customers for fees and interest rates in relation to home loans, credit cards and overdrafts, over a period of several years. https://comcom.govt.nz/news-and-media/media-releases/2024/kiwibank-faces-criminal-charges-following-issues-that-caused-over-$7m-in-overcharges
Partners Life publishes gender pay gap data - we contrast that with ours
Partners Life has published their gender pay gap data as at March 2024.
Partners Life has published their gender pay gap data as at March 2024. While the Financial and Insurance Services industry as a whole has a gender pay gap of 30.2%, Partners Life’s gender pay gap is at 24.5%, which they have reduced from 26.1% in March 2023.
While pay gaps for males vs females in like-for-like roles are very small at Partners Life, the 24.5% overall gender pay gap reflects a higher level of men in senior roles than women. Partners Life has identified this as an issue and have introduced a range of initiatives to help reduce their pay gap, including monthly monitoring, implementing training programmes, offering flexible working arrangements.
Here at Quality Product Research Limited at the end of January we had 11 eligible roles active and our gender pay gap was about 8.5% - it has been as high as 19% and as low as parity. Like Partners Life, in like-for-like roles the gap is tiny. From a diversity perspective we are a bit small for detailed reporting (it would pretty soon get down to very small sets so we tend not to ask too many personal questions) but we do know that roughly a third of our staff were born in New Zealand, a third hail from the broad Asia-pacific region, and the remaining third from the UK-Europe-Middle-East. We now have 15 eligible roles so the numbers will have shifted again, but we have not recalculated yet, which will happen near the end of the year. Diversity, equity and inclusion are important to us, so this is an area we discuss and review with an eye to ensuring we benefit from a range of experiences and backgrounds.
More daily news:
FSC24 session spotlight: Life and Health Insurance Masterclass 3 September
Dates and venues for the FMA's FAP monitoring insights sessions released
NZFSG reminds advisers to be vigilant against risk of cyber attacks
Rob Hennin talks about nib partnering with iwi to deliver health insurance
Steven Burgess says advisers need to ensure their clients understand the advice they are offered
mySolutions webinar 'Online FMA Monitoring Visit' 9am 29 May
FSC Webinar 'Māori engagement in the financial services industry' 18 June
Mary Holm’s financial column covers whether you really need life and health insurance
Kiwibank has announced the appointment of Anne Haira to its board
Craig Stobo appointed as chair of FMA
Craig Stobo has been appointed as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).
Craig Stobo has been appointed as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Stobo has been appointed for a five-year term and takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April.
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly said
“Mr Stobo brings a significant depth of experience to the role, having worked as a director, diplomat, economist, and chief executive.
The FMA will benefit from Mr Stobo’s understanding of market issues and regulation, as well as the importance of informed participation from businesses and investors.”
More daily news:
The FSC brings the industry together to respond to the Contracts of Insurance Bill
Anna Schubert discusses ways AIA help advisers manage stress
AIA launch a Neurodiversity Toolkit
Southern Cross Healthcare have joined the New Zealand Disability Employers' Network
MAS is a finalist in the Ethical and Impact Investment Awards
Submissions open for the ANZIIF industry awards
Kiwibank welcome Anne Haira to the Kiwibank board
Westpac won the Corporate ESG award at the INFINZ awards
ASB has joined the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower programme
People seeking help from financial mentors jumps 40% in a year
NZFSG announce new non-executive director
The NZ Financial Services Group (NZFSG) has appointed Thérèse Singleton as a non-executive director.
The NZ Financial Services Group (NZFSG) has appointed Thérèse Singleton as a non-executive director, with the aim of enhancing NZFSG’s support for advisers by improving compliance, risk management and strategic operations. Singleton is currently the chief operating officer at insurance company Ando and is a member of the NZ Financial Advice Code committee.
Brendon Smith, board chair of NZFSG said
“Thérèse's extensive knowledge and exceptional track record in both the financial and insurance sectors make her an invaluable addition to our board.
Her insights will be pivotal as we continue to navigate through evolving regulatory environments and strive to set new standards in adviser services.”
More daily news:
MAS looking for a Head of Growth Markets
Jon-Paul Hale discusses complexities of policy replacement and servicing commissions
RiskInfoNZ Poll finds 85% of respondents' clients are reducing or cancelling their insurance cover
Financial Advice NZ webinars Professional Ethics Workshop 20 June
Kumeu Rugby Club won the nib Little Legends $10K Relay
Southern Cross Healthcare introduces new operating theatre training programme, Periop 101
AIA NZ women won the AIA Global football champs in London
Kiwibank win at the 2024 Genesys Customer Innovation Awards
The FMA publish May's 'Money with Mary'
61% of advice practices in Australian are one-person bands
Interest.co.nz estimate mortgage broker earnings
Access to life-changing MS drug delayed due to staff shortages
nib release 1H24 financial results
nib’s have released their financial results for 1H24.
nib have released their financial results for 1H24.
Underlying operating profit of $13.2 million
Premium revenue was $197 million, up from $179.7 million in 1H23
Private health insurance experienced policy growth of 3.7%
nib New Zealand Chief Executive, Rob Hennin said,
“We have reported a solid first-half result and are positioned well for the full year. nib NZ has continued to see strong growth in resident private health insurance policyholders, and we have seen positive contributions from our international student, worker and traveller insurance business OrbitProtect and life and living insurance business nib nz insurance limited.”
Hennin pointed to nib’s focus on innovation as key to delivering value and improved services to customers, highlighting OrbitProject, the launch of the redesigned ‘my nib NZ’ app and website, and wellbeing initiatives like Toi Ora and Kickstarter as examples.
More daily news:
Andrew Bayly confirmed as keynote speaker at Financial Advice NZ’s Thrive conference
Kiwibank's unaudited net profit after tax for the six months to December 31 2023 was $105 million
Government could bring forward bill to close Māori Health Authority
Economists divided on whether the RBNZ will raise the OCR this week
Treasury warns Health services may need to be cut to slow rising costs
A year in review
We look back at some of the big industry news, mergers, acquisitions, court cases and people changes in 2023.
2023 has been a difficult year for consumers and businesses alike. Conditions are similar to last year, with inflation remaining high, resulting in a continuing cost-of-living crisis, the OCR set at 5.5% and the RBNZ not ruling out a further hike next year, and housing prices only just starting to rise. How has that affected the insurance sector? Combined with an increase in regulatory red-tape tangling up banks, there has been a spike in lapse rates that very much looks like it is driven by the same forces.
NZ was badly affected by natural disasters this year, with insurers having to fork out $3.5 billion in general insurance claims for the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle. Such heavy claims have impacted general insurers, perhaps part of the reason why Tower is looking to do a strategic review of its ownership structure.
It is this situation which greets the new National-Act-NZ First coalition government. They have outlined a 100-day plan that includes: stopping work on the Income Insurance Scheme; introducing legislation to narrow the Reserve Bank’s mandate to price stability (removing the mandate to ensure maximum sustainable employment); signing a memorandum of understanding with Waikato University to progress a third medical school; disestablishing the Māori Health Authority; taking the first steps to extend free breast cancer screening to those aged up to 74; repealing amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations; and setting five major targets for the health system. National promised to roll back the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) and to make changes to allow kiwis to split their KiwiSaver savings between different providers during the election campaign, so we will be watching how this plays out next year. In August, then National Party Leader, Chris Luxon, told the Financial Services Council conference that it was also their intention to repeal the Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Act 2022. That hasn’t explicitly made it into the coalition agreement, but may possibly be covered by the planned regulation sector reviews to which the coalition commits under the Act Policy Programme. Although regulatory relief is often welcomed by the sector, so is long-term stability, so we have found views split on the proposed changes to the conduct law.
As of March 2023, all financial advice providers needed to have obtained their level 5 certificates to continue operating this year. We wrote about the impact of this on the market and just how many financial advice providers and financial advisers there are in the September 2023 Quarterly Life and Health Sector Report.
Accuro and Unimed members voted in favour of combining operations. Approval from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is likely to come early next year. The Lifetime Group acquired Protection Solutions. Fidelity Insurance, formerly known as Westpac Life, was integrated into the Fidelity Life Assurance Company. In March 2023 Cigna NZ changed its name to Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited (Chubb Life NZ) and is now trading under the Chubb brand. nib have told customers they are planning to amalgamate, with their health insurance company ‘nib nz limited’ and their life and living insurance company ‘nib nz insurance limited’ combining to form one single company known as nib nz limited. The acquisition of Partners Life by Dai-Ichi has been made more real by the appointment of new personnel and the announcement of Naomi Ballantyne’s change of role to come in 2024. The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) have announced they will merge to form the Financial Advice Association of Australia. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) denied the sale of Suncorp Bank to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).
There were some interesting court cases, with AMP settling with Australian advisers for A$100 million; MAS were penalised $2.1 million for making false and misleading representations to customers; Cigna was fined $3.575m for false and/or misleading representations.
There were lots of new faces joining the industry or changing roles this year.
AIA New Zealand appointed Michele Embling as an independent non-executive Director; Ben Lovelock as Chief Risk Officer; Shaun Baird as Chief Financial Officer; Maddie Sherlock as Head of Customer Operations; Andrew Anisi as Senior Manager Contact Centre & Business Solutions; Aaron Gilmore and Katie Hunter as AIA Vitality Coaches; Calvin Romeo to the role of head of ASB Partnership.
Asteron Life appointed Kirsten Young as the National Manager Adviser Distribution.
Chubb Life board chairman Steven Fyfe retired and Paul Brock took over his role as Chairman while Linley Wood joined as an Independent Director to the board. Chubb appointed Monique Ravening as its new Head of Underwriting and Erica Hamer as Chubb's new Wellington-based Business Partnership Manager. Adit Witjaksono was appointed as property manager for Australia and New Zealand.
Fidelity Life made some new appointments to key roles. David Winspear was appointed as Head of Channel Strategy, Michelle Doyle appointed as the new Head of Solutions and Kylie Oldham appointed as Senior Group Insurance Business Manager. Leigh Bennett was promoted internally to the role of Head of Underwriting and Mat Bark was appointed as Head of Channel Enablement. Giselle Baker was appointed as Head of Data and Analytics. In October, Ian Clancy acted as the Acting CEO until Campbell Mitchell was bought on board as the new CEO after Melissa Cantell resigned. Sam Kelly was appointed as Head of Regulatory Affairs.
MAS appointed Matt Harvey as Chief Distribution and Marketing Officer, Craig Ward as Chief Innovation and Digital Officer, Dan Mead as an Investment Manager.
nib appointed Stu Crowther as new National Manager – Adviser Distribution; Ian Sargeant as National Manager – Group, Partnerships & Strategy; Chris Carnall as Head of Distribution; Stan Bennetto as Group Health Business Development Manager.
Partners Life appointed Gemma Vivian as GM Adviser Engagement; Gareth Allen as Senior Manager Adviser Partnerships. Naomi Ballantyne announced her retirement from Partners Life in March 2024.
Southern Cross Healthcare appointed Mark Phillips as Chief Digital Officer; Dr Erica Whineray Kelly as Transformation Lead for Women’s Health; Jo Fair as Chief of People & Culture; Monica Goldwater as Chief Nursing Officer.
Suncorp New Zealand appointed Suraiya Phillimore-Smith as its new Chief Customer Officer. Lindsay Tanner was appointed as an independent director of the firm’s three boards.
Justine Gilliland was appointed to Unimed's board.
ASB appointed Carl Ferguson Chief Financial Officer and Rebecca James as its new Executive General Manager of Business Banking.
Westpac welcomed a new GM of Consumer Banking and Wealth, Michael Norfolk.
Kiwibank appointed Julia Jack as chief purpose and brand officer.
TSB appointed Kerry Boielle as new CEO after Donna Cooper resigned. Penny Burgess was appointed General Manager Customer Delivery; Molly Auva'a-O'Brien as General Manager Operational Excellence.
AMP appointed Blair Vernon as CFO.
Tim Grafton announced he’s stepping down as chief of the Insurance Council of New Zealand next year.
Tony Dench started as Financial Advice NZ’s interim CEO following Katrina Shanks’ departure to head up The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF). Sonja Barrett was appointed as Financial Advice New Zealand’s Board Member Director (Risk) and Peter Fa’afiu was appointed as an Independent Member Director on the Financial Advice NZ Board. Stefanos Boulieris joined Financial Advice NZ, communicating online webinars and the upcoming conference in 2024 and Sarah Maxwell joined as Communications and Social Media Manager.
Tim Tez and Sarah Phillips joined ANZIIF’s Board of Directors.
Anna Scott, Ana-Marie Lockyer and Campbell Mitchell all joined the board of the Financial Services Council (FSC). David Bishop was appointed to the Chief Marketing Officer role.
The FMA appointed Daniel Trinder as Executive Director – Strategy and Design; Michael Hewes as Director for Deposit Taking, Insurance and Advice; John Horner as Director of Markets, Investors and Reporting; Peter Taylor as Director Specialist Supervision and Response; Stuart Johnson as Chief Economist; Sharon Thompson as Executive Director – Transformation and Operational Delivery.
Graeme Edwards took on the role of Lifetime Group director and chairman and David Haintz was appointed as an independent chairman of Lifetime Group Holdings and its subsidiaries.
Craig Wagstaff joined New Zealand Home Loans (NZHL) as its new general manager for franchise, distribution, and marketing.
The Adviser Platform (TAP) appointed Pooja Shetty as Senior Operations Specialist and Naz Mistry as a Compliance Specialist and Adviser Support.
Some big names in the industry have retired, with David Haak, Tony Arthur, and our very own Rob Dowler retiring
Here’s to another exciting year in 2024!