Quotemonster Online Roadshow

If you missed us in person, please join us online as we show our cutting-edge insights and tools designed to enhance your business practices.

What’s in it for you?

Access new research: Check out 200+ updated products researched including: the latest business insurance research, group health insurance research, and legacy products

Stay safe with new Regtech: Discover how Checkmonster, Premium History Reports, and Company Reports can keep SOAs compliant

Expanded offer: Explore how to tackle new opportunities with business insurance SOAs and details on staying compliant while advising on existing business

What’s coming: We’re kiwi-owned and kiwi-based so it’s only natural we branch out and give you a sneak peek at Kiwimonster.

Click here to register: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/f8dbd586-d563-4cc0-aadd-d17e9aebcdc1@2f1f15f2-0d74-4eba-9c8c-31bd5701c8d2

We look forward to seeing you there!

Recent rate changes on Quotemonster

Dear Quotemonster users,

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

• Southern Cross Wellbeing One and Two (no changes were made to the GP and Prescriptions or Dental and Optical Options)

• Accuro SmartCare and SmartCare+

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

Happy Crunching!

Quotemonster Information Security Bulletin – Site SSL Certificate Chain Update

This is our ninth information security bulletin, about a recent update to a Certificate Authority (CA) that we use on www.quotemonster.co.nz.

One of the certificate authorities, Let’s Encrypt, who we use on Quotemonster has announced a series of changes in its chain of trust over the coming weeks. Realistically, this will only affect some of the older devices, users of Android 7.0 or earlier. As of December 2022, only 4% of devices ran on Android 7.0 or earlier, this is likely to have reduced even more over the last few years, so we are confident that most of our users will not experience any disruptions when trying to access Quotemonster via a mobile device. However, some may still use these devices, and an easy way to resolve any error messages that you receive regarding Trusted Settings is to install and use Firefox Mobile.

Please click here to download Firefox for Android.

We appreciate your understanding and support, both now and in the years to come as we provide safe and secure communication to everyone who uses Quotemonster.

Want to know more?

We are here to help! You can email us to ask for copies of past security bulletins. You can also review our outsource provider statement at the bottom right-hand corner of every page on the site at www.quotemonster.co.nz. More information about relevant certifications, policies, and procedures will be shared in future information security bulletins. We recommend you keep these with other compliance documents.

Please contact us on 09 480 6071 or at info@quotemonster.co.nz if you have any concerns or questions.

ISB 09-202409

Research and website upgrades: what you need to know

QPR Database V16 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.16.0 | WEB V4.6.0

Our latest updates to Researchmonster include:

– Research for the following insurers are now available to include in your comparison:

o   OneChoice:

·        Life, Trauma (Accelerated), and TPD (Any Occupation Accelerated)

o   Booster

·        Super Simple Life

o   Chubb Life & Living (replaces LifeOne in the main quote flow, however, can still be accessed via Standalone Head to Head)

·        Life, and Trauma (Standalone)

o   NZ Seniors

·        Term Life

o   Greenwich

·        QuickCover Life

These changes have led to an update of our Product Map, click here to download the most recent version.

– Policy document update for Unimed Hospital Select effective 1 August 2024.

o   Rating changes applied to:

·        Loyalty Benefits, Non-Surgical Benefits, Child Features, and Exclusions

– Policy document updates for:

·        AA Health

·        AA Life

·        ANZ Life & Living

·        SBS (Term Life)

– Reviews:

o   Based on adviser feedback, we have recently updated the Extras and Options on Income and Mortgage selections on Quotemonster:

·        Fidelity Life’s Extras package now includes Specified Medical Conditions, Specific Injury Benefit, Death Benefit, and TPD 

·        Partners Life Options package now includes Injury Benefit, and Trauma Benefit

o   Trauma remediation: sub-items in Paralysis, amount score in Financial Planning & Legal Advice

o   Medical remediation: sub-item in Physiotherapy (Accuro)

Recent Pricing Updates

We are now quoting the latest Unimed medical rates effective 1 August.

Standalone Head to Head is a powerful tool subscribers can use to:

–        Compare legacy products for replacement business

–        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.

Business Insurance is a powerful tool Advicemonster subscribers can use to quote, research, and run a needs analysis on for Life, Trauma, TPD and Key Person. We highly recommend joining us for our next online training session to learn more about the service, and as a thank you for attending we can offer a 14-day trial on your account for new users.

Upcoming training sessions:

– Introduction to Quotemonster

Quotemonster training session where we demonstrate the basic functions of our website, along with some handy tips and tricks along the way.

Friday, 30 August 2024 9:30 am-10:30 am

– Demystifying Advicemonster

Advicemonster training session where we demonstrate how to use our needs analysis and statement of advice (SOA) tools.

Friday, 30 August 2024 10:30 am-11:30 am

– Business Risk Research and SOAs with Quotemonster

Business risk pricing, research, and SOA demonstration.

Friday, 30 August 2024 12:00 pm-12:45 pm

– Research Deep Dive

Join our research team as we meet up online and have a discussion on a specific research topic.

If you have any questions or are interested in attending one of the above-mentioned sessions, please send us a request on info@quotemonster.co.nz 

Happy Crunching!

Survey highlights increasing concerns among kiwi workers about their mental and physical health

The 2024 Workplace Wellbeing survey, conducted by nib New Zealand and the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), has found that 80% of respondents have been negatively impacted by the current cost-of-living crisis.

• 64% are concerned for the mental health and wellbeing of their family

• 56% are worried about their own mental health and wellbeing

• 52% are concerned about the risk of burnout at work

• 50% said the rising cost of living has negatively impacted their mental health (rising to 63% of 16 – 30 year olds)

In more positive news, 61% said their workplace proactively manages wellbeing, up from 53% in 2022. Fewer employees are being impacted by understaffing (47% down from 64%), poor work-life balance (36%, down from 42%), and the pressure to work long hours (34%, down from 39%).

Kiwis are putting more value on systems that prioritise employee wellbeing, with 60% rating Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) as important, and 72% valuing wellbeing initiatives and subsidies. The value of employer-provided insurance continues to grow, with 64% considering medical and health insurance a benefit they look for when switching jobs, up from 57% in 2022, 48% valuing income protection illness cover and 43% looking for life insurance benefits.

Rob Hennin, Chief Executive at nib New Zealand, said

“There’s no better time than now for employers to stand up and proactively support their teams’ mental and physical health, empowering them to perform at their best knowing there’s someone in their corner no matter what happens. Fostering this positive workplace culture starts from the top down, so it’s just as important for business leaders to embody these values in their day-to-day.”

The survey collected responses from 1,229 NZ workers this May.

More news:

Quotemonster offers advisers information on KiwiSaver products

Commissioner of Health NZ says reducing treatment delays is his main priority

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 Financial Markets Authority (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

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.

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.

• 20 August -Queenstown

• 21 August - Dunedin

• 22 August - South Auckland

• 27 August - Whangarei

• 28 August - North Auckland

• 29 August - Nelson  

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

FSCL sees significant increase in complaints over the past year

Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL) has revealed that complaints rose by 6% in the last year, to 1,426. Of these, complaints against financial advisers were up by 18% and complaints against insurers were up by 14.5%. The biggest driver of complaints was against lenders, particularly involving car, personal and small business loans. In all, new disputes involving formal investigations by FSCL increased by 10% to 359.

FSCL Financial Ombudsman Susan Taylor has said

“We expect this high level of complaints to persist as long as economic conditions remain difficult. The new rules increasing our financial loss compensation to $500,000 (previously $350,000), which took effect in July, could also lead to a further rise.”

More news:

Quotemonster has added a KiwiSaver comparison and research service

Russell Hutchinson writes about issues insuring those with complex incomes

Financial Advice NZ webinar 'How the latest Dispute Resolution Scheme rules affect you' 14 August

MAS Annual General Meeting 2024 is on 21 August

Asteron Life offers four $5,000 grants to advisers who attended MDRT annual meeting

ANZ has announced that Nagaja Sanatkumar will join its board

ANZIIF has released an IT outage preparedness video

Gallagher Insurance support the Poipoia te Kākano Programme

Westpac announce their first third party Open Banking integration is live

FSC Conference 2024 – special discount offer

The Financial Service Council’s 2024 conference has a focus on life and health insurance, with leaders from the financial, academic and healthcare sectors coming together to foster collaboration and discuss top issues. FSC24 will be held The Cordis Hotel, Auckland, on 15-17 August 2023.

Our very own Russell Hutchinson is the facilitator of the breakout session ‘Genetics, how far have we come?’, which looks at the future of genetics and insurance in NZ. There’s a range of other life and health insurance focused sessions, including ‘Policy Masterclass 2: Looking forward to 2030 - A brave new world?’, ‘Breakout Session: Lifespan versus Healthspan: How technology can help drive healthier living in older age’ and ‘Breakout Session: CEO Strategy: a view from the top’.

LIMITED SPECIAL DISCOUNT OFFER

Quotemonster has negotiated a special discounted rate for Financial Advisers* to join the flagship Financial Services Conference in New Zealand, saving up to $400 for access to all conference sessions.

This limited offer is available to the first 50 Financial Advisers* that register using this link before the 9th of August. Please note to get the discount you must enter the access code FSC24QPR to reveal the hidden tickets as per the screenshot below.

For a full conference pass including Gala Dinner Special we have secured a rate of $1,330 (current ticket price $1,700, saving $370) or a Day Pass Special Rate for Wednesday 4th of September only at $700 (currently ticket price $780, saving $80), as a value add for Quotemonster users.

*To qualify for this special offer, you must be a Financial Adviser listed on the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR). This limited offer is available to the first 50 Financial Advisers that complete registration using this link by 9 August 2024.

More news:

A range of new courses added to Partners Life Academy

BNZ is proceeding with plans to outsource jobs to India

August is Sorted Money Month, with the theme ‘Pause. Get sorted.’

Report lists seven megatrends that could change the future of financial advice

Cost of living for average NZ household climbed 5.4% in June quarter

Quotemonster at FSC24: Professional Advice Leaders Lunch

We are delighted to sponsor the Professional Advice Lunch session at the Financial Services Council New Zealand for the seventh year in a row.

By invitation only: Professional Advice Leaders Lunch facilitated by our Director, Russell Hutchinson which includes a highly informative panel discussion with leaders from the life and health insurance sectors debating the future of genetics and insurance in New Zealand.

This session will be held on Wednesday 4 September, click here to view the full programme.