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.
Southern Cross Health Insurance unveils policy updates
From October 22, Southern Cross Health Insurance (SCHI) is ushering in a series of policy updates.
From October 22, Southern Cross Health Insurance (SCHI) is ushering in a series of policy updates. In addition to adopting plain language in some of it’s policy documents in an effort to improve clarity, the updates include enhanced allowances for breast reduction and breast symmetry; expanding coverage for treatments such as unilateral and bilateral TMJ, periurethral injection for incontinence, cochlear implant receiver/stimulator prosthesis and minimally invasive glaucoma surgery; lifting the excess requirement on certain benefits under plans with an excess e.g., surgical allowances, obstetrics and the GP minor surgery benefit; broadening member access to mental health care; increasing the number of healthcare services that must be accessed through Affiliated Providers.
SCHI is also changing the way it communicates changes to some documents that form part of some policies – listing them on the SCHI website and updating them regularly.
Regan Savage, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for SCHI says,
“Healthcare is dynamic and fast-changing. Health technology, drugs and healthcare services are constantly being improved, so Southern Cross regularly reviews its policies and the way we engage with members, with an aim to remain sustainable and affordable.”
Our research team are looking at the pack of documents that will be considered together and include sub-limits and eligible procedures in this online document alongside the policy wording in our review of the rating of the product.
More news:
Southern Cross Health Insurance recognised in the 2024 Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand awards
Rob Hennin talks about nib's Toi Ora dedicated iwi programme
Setting up SOA customisation on Advicemonster
Watch our quick tutorial on how to customise your Statement of Advice.
Our quick tutorial shows you how to customise your Statement of Advice, to save you time and suit what your business needs.
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
APRA provide guidance on cyber control weaknesses; Stephanie Charles appointed to the Takeovers Panel; Hon Andrew Bayly July 2024 diary released; Commerce Commission release final report into competition in the personal banking sector; Commerce Commission grant Payments NZ Limited conditional authorisation to develop a partnering framework relating to the provision of API services; RBNZ consult on policy proposals; APRA publish notes form life insurance CEO roundtable.
15 Aug 2024 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has written to all regulated entities to provide further insights and guidance on common cyber control weaknesses. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-shares-further-insights-on-common-cyber-control-weaknesses
16 Aug 2024 - Stephanie Charles has been appointed to the Takeovers Panel, commencing on 13 August 2024. https://www.takeovers.govt.nz/about-the-panel/news/takeovers-panel-welcomes-new-australian-panel-member-appointment
20 Aug 2024 - Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hon Andrew Bayly July 2024 diary released with the following potential financial services sector related meetings noted:
• 15 Jul 2024 – ZOOM: Commerce Commission (Commerce Commission Officials)
• 23 Jul 2024 – MEET: Fincap (Jake Lilley and Ruth Smithers)
• 25 Jul 2024 – MEET: NZBA CEO (Roger Beaumont)
• 31 Jul 2024 – MEET: Commerce Commission (Commerce Commission Officials)
20 Aug 2024 - The Commerce Commission’s Final Report into competition in the personal banking sector points to the potential of a stronger Kiwibank as a disruptor to the four major retail banks, and open banking as a “game-changer”, unlocking competition and revolutionising choice for Kiwi consumers. The Commission is recommending a raft of regulatory and structural changes to drive more competition for the benefit of Kiwi consumers – after the 14-month market study found “a stable, highly profitable, two-tier oligopoly with no disruptive maverick and a lack of obvious or aggressive price competition”. https://comcom.govt.nz/news-and-media/media-releases/2024/a-stronger-kiwibank-and-open-banking-could-shake-up-nz-banking-sector
20 Aug 2024 - The Commerce Commission has granted Payments NZ Limited (Payments NZ) conditional authorisation to work with current and future API providers (ie, banks) and third parties (eg, fintechs) to develop and apply a partnering framework relating to the provision of API services by API providers to third parties (the Proposed Arrangement). https://comcom.govt.nz/news-and-media/media-releases/2024/commerce-commission-authorises-payments-new-zealand-to-further-develop-its-open-banking-framework
21 Aug 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is consulting on policy proposals for the next set of standards under the Deposit Takers Act 2023, and an Issues Paper on the crisis management framework in the Act. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/08/proposals-for-deposit-taker-standards-and-crisis-management-open-for-consultation
21 Aug 2024 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published the public notes from the life insurance CEO roundtable held on Wednesday, 17 July 2024. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-notes-on-life-insurance-ceo-roundtable-july-2024
Life advisers reminded they need to actively review legacy policies
Compliance Refinery director Steve Burgess has reminded life insurance advisers they need to review legacy policies or risk opening themselves up to censure by the FMA.
Speaking at a Quotemonster roadshow event in Lower Hutt, Burgess said of legacy products,
“If you don't look at it, the regulator could decide that's you saying that product is suitable for your client.”
Burgess also cautioned that some legacy products have features that are difficult or impossible to replicate with new policies, so as well as listing the advantages of replacement policies, advisers need to be recording any disadvantages clients may face if they change.
Steve Wright has also written of how the FMA have flagged ‘suitability of advice’ as something they will be focusing on in future. Wright has helpfully listed some steps advisers should be following to help ensure the suitability of their advice, including having a suitable fact find process; needs analysis and quantification of client risks; avoiding limiting or transferring risks to an insurer; assessment of insurance types required and sums insured; and giving appropriate product recommendations.
More news:
Financial Advice NZ's webinar on the Code of Professional Conduct is on 28 August
ASB's net profit after tax down 10% from previous year
Travis Hamilton named the New Zealand country Chair for the Million Dollar Round Table organisation
Patients across the country concerned at GP fee increases; GP’s say capitation funding insufficient
Most KiwiSaver providers have now submitted their KiwiSaver climate reports
Blog birthday!
Another year has passed us by and its the anniversary of this blog. But it is not just any anniversary - the blog is 20 years old today. This time has passed in a flash. During that time we have learned a lot and we want to share some of that with you who may be considering this particular form of engagement with your clients, colleagues, and friends.
First, writing helps me be a better analyst of the sector. Personally, I have always liked to write. I started to do this as a way of organising my thoughts, as a way of providing rigour to argument, get those reviewed by other people, and to help understand both the strengths and weaknesses of one’s own analysis. These are vital for one to see through 'common beliefs’ and ‘stories that we tell’ and come closer to understanding the truth about our subjects. A good explanation of why writing works is at this link: https://paulgraham.com/words.html I encourage you to write more.
Second, this has been a great mechanism for finding other people who care about our industry, are prepared to engage with me, and therefore, this has been possibly the single best form of marketing for us. It may be more suited to our kind of business than yours. But if you are an adviser working on more technical areas or trying to engage with clients that will be demanding in terms of details and overall quality of fulfillment, then you too, may find that a blog could be a valuable component in your marketing planning. I encourage you to engage in some ‘long-form’ marketing. It’s a great way to get found.
Thirdly, our clients have found the resource so useful that it drove further innovations: we now run a news database, which includes all the blog content here, and this fulfills a lot of other content requirements - helping us to keep an eye on events for company reports, and to spot changes that feed in to quarterly life and health reports, and adviser business remuneration reviews. I encourage you to think ‘create once, use in many platforms’ connections between one thing and another are so useful. Fran jokes ‘not another database’ and yet - spotting relationships between events and data, and other data, has been so central to our success both at Quality Product Research and in consulting that it could also be a guide. So I encourage you to build databases.
I always write this, too, on our anniversaries: if you are thinking you would like to write about the sector, and you don’t want to set up your own blog because of the commitment, you could become a guest commentator here. Please send me a draft article and I will look at it and give you a call to discuss if we can use it. I would be delighted to help you experiment with this process.
Lastly, I could not do this without other contributors. Fortunately in my team I have several people who help a lot with this process. Kelly O is the content creator for the regular news pieces these days, as I must work on other things. She also helps to proof many of my pieces. Ed Foster, our data scientist writes many great pieces - but usually for quarterly life and health reports. Along with Fran and Doreen who also provide content from time to time here. In addition I am grateful for proofers these days: Kelly P and Aneel Ravji who are very good at checking and challenging me on what we publish. Friends in the industry who help are too numerous to mention them all but Jeremy Bernstein has an eagle eye and a real passion for the sector, and so is one of our best at giving feedback. There are many others and I am deeply in your debt if you have written me an email to give a point of view or perspective - or to tell me I’m wrong - these are really valuable to have when writing.
What advisers think of KiwiSaver
At our latest roadshows, we’ve been lucky enough to have Generate KiwiSaver Scheme join us, giving advisers insights into the benefits of offering KiwiSaver advice. We’ve also been finding out what our roadshow attendees think about KiwiSaver.
At our latest roadshows, we’ve been lucky enough to have Generate KiwiSaver Scheme join us, giving advisers insights into the benefits of offering KiwiSaver advice. We’ve also been finding out what our roadshow attendees think about KiwiSaver.
To date, the results show that for those advisers who are already offering advice on KiwiSaver investments, the top reasons for offering KiwiSaver are diversifying revenue, building a KiwiSaver book for long term value and adding value to clients. Advisers have told us that performance, ease of withdrawals and alternative fund options are most important to clients when choosing a KiwiSaver provider. And 27% of advisers were interested in additional resources or support related to KiwiSaver advice and independent research.
If you haven’t joined us already, come along to one of our remaining roadshows to find out more – along with info on KiwiSaver we’ll be highlighting some major new research, talking about two new regtech tools to help keep you safe, giving you a sneak peek at Kiwimonster, and much, much more.
More news:
Fidelity Life extend 3 months free until 31 December 2024
Michael Weston talks about key priorities at Partners Life
Jon-Paul Hale highlights the good advisers do
Asteron Life are looking for a Lump Sum Claims Specialist
Study finds three-quarters of respondents have realised the importance of financial knowledge
FAMNZ launch inaugural Adviser Elevate series on 28 August
AIA sponsor the Parliamentary Rugby Team
Charlene Overell is the Financial Advice New Zealand Volunteer of the Year
Fidelity Life extend 3 months free until 31 December 2024
Fidelity Life has extended their 3 months premium free offer until 31 December.
Fidelity Life has extended their 3 months premium free offer until 31 December. All new customers who take out an eligible policy will have their premiums covered for the first 3 months.
The offer is available to eligible new Platinum Plus, Platinum Plus Level Term, Mortgage Protectors and NZHL Life policies that are illustrated between 1-May and 31-December 2024, submitted within 30 days of the illustration being generated and issued within 6 months of the offer period end date.
More news:
mySolutions webinar 'Introduction to Milford Asset Management' 21 August
The IFSO Scheme investigated 479 complaints in the past year
Financial Advice NZ 'Professional Ethics Workshop' is on 22 August
Financial Advice NZ's 'Strategies Summit 2024' is on 21-22 August
FinTech webinar 'Exploring the Australian fintech landscape' 19 August
KiwiSaver assets rose $3.5 billion to $110.8b at the end of the June quarter
Huge increase in the amount of chemotherapy being provided by the private sector in recent years
John MacDonald suggests compulsory health insurance is the answer to Health NZ’s overspend woes
Product Rating Map
Our product rating map is an easy-to-use resource, available to Researchmonster and Advicemonster subscribers, which displays the different companies we research and the product selections you need to make to successfully compare.
Our product rating map is an easy-to-use resource, available to Researchmonster and Advicemonster subscribers, which displays the different companies we research and the product selections you need to make to successfully compare. Find out more here
nib launches an AI-driven symptom checker
nib has launched an AI-driven symptom checker, to help direct kiwis to the appropriate treatment, based on their needs.
nib has launched an AI-driven symptom checker, to help direct kiwis to the appropriate treatment, based on their needs. The symptom checker is available to all nib health policyholders through the my nib app.
Users input their symptoms and the symptom checker gives information on possible conditions as well as when and where to seek care. For a limited time, users advised to book a telehealth GP appointment will be able to get an appointment with Tend’s nationwide online GP service, at no additional cost.
nib New Zealand Chief Executive Officer, Rob Hennin, said
“It’s part of nib’s mission to help Kiwis take a more proactive approach to their health and wellbeing no matter where they are… AI-powered health tools, such as symptom-checkers, can help keep non-urgent medical cases out of hospital emergency departments, relieving some of the pressure on hospitals and emergency department staff, and help ensure people get the right level of medical attention.”
The symptom checker platform was developed by Infermedica and has been used in more than 30 countries, reaching more than 17 million users internationally.
More news:
The ANZIIF Group Life Seminar is on 3 September in Sydney
Level 5 certificate to remain the minimum requirement for advisers
INFINZ seek feedback on 'Shifting the Dial on Diversity' report
New Zealand’s unemployment rate rises to 4.6% in the June quarter
Should more employers be looking at offering more flexible working options?
Increasingly, organisations are seeing the benefits of offering more flexible working options, in terms of productivity output, being able to attract a more diverse range of employees and employee satisfaction.
Increasingly, organisations are seeing the benefits of offering more flexible working options, in terms of productivity output, being able to attract a more diverse range of employees and employee satisfaction.
Stats NZ data shows that in 2023, 81% of organisations offered flexible working hours, up from 57% of organisations in 2018. In 2023, 77% of organisations offered part-time work roles, up from 53% in 2018.
Kiwibank economist, Sabrina Delgado, highlighted flexible work’s impact on the wider economy,
“Whether it’s working around school hours or the location of work, greater work flexibility perhaps has the biggest economic impact on improving the labour market outcomes and productivity.”
Infometrics chief executive and principal economist Brad Olsen said,
“Increasing participation even further can be supported by removing barriers to work for different groups, like parents, while still allowing them to do their parental duties without as much compromise as before.”
Dr Ellen Ford, the creator of #workschoolhours movement, said,
“There are a huge amount of parents who would absolutely love to work in an organisation that provides a school hours framework and they would add immense value to the organisation.”
“One of the economic benefits is that it actually allows organisations to tap into a massively underutilised section of the workforce.”
“If businesses are struggling to attract and retain great talent, one of the ways they can do that is actually offer roles that work within school hours.”
“People on part time contracts are typically the most productive in the workforce. They just get their stuff done in a shorter amount of time.”
It seems like flexible work options are here to stay. An international survey of more than 500 CEO’s around hybrid working, found 91% had adopted hybrid working and 74% said a full-time office return is not a business priority. 73% of CEO’s agreed that hybrid work allows them to attract the best workers and 76% saw improved staff retention since offering flexibility to employees.
More news:
Tony Vidler posits why advisers face fee resistance and how to turn it around
Finalists for the FSC Awards 2024 announced
KiwiSaver investors advised to ignore sharemarket turmoil and stay the course