Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector

26 Sep 2024 - ASIC announced the two-year extension of its Consultation Agreement (Agreement) with the Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) to 25 September 2026. https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/news-items/asic-extends-consultation-agreement-with-financial-markets-standards-board/?altTemplate=betanewsroom

26 Sep 2024 - Speakers and sessions have been announced for the ASIC Annual Forum, 14–15 November 2024. https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/news-items/asic-annual-forum-2024-speakers-and-sessions-announced/?altTemplate=betanewsroom

27 Sep 2024 - The FMA publish their submission on the Finance and Expenditure Committee’s inquiry into banking competition. https://www.fma.govt.nz/assets/Consultations/FMA-submission-on-the-Finance-and-Expenditure-Committees-inquiry-into-banking-competition.pdf

30 Sep 2024 - The Council of Financial Regulators released an updated Regulatory Initiatives Calendar for the financial sector for Q3 2024. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/key-documents/regulatory-initiatives-calendar.html

FSC sees opportunities for increased contributions to KiwiSaver

KiwiSaver has been in the news recently with funds under management surpassing the $100b mark and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) releasing their KiwiSaver Annual Report 2024. The Financial Services Council (FSC) have welcomed the insights from the FMA report and said they see opportunities for increased contributions. Kirk Hope, CEO of the FSC said,

“With KiwiSaver funds under management surpassing the $100bn mark, this is a great opportunity to look at KiwiSaver contribution settings and how we can make it affordable over time so that New Zealanders can have dignity in retirement.”

“Increasing contribution levels, in combination with financial literacy that helps New Zealanders understand the benefits and mechanisms of KiwiSaver, are key to driving better retirement outcomes,”

More news:

nib join the Sustainable Business Council NZ

Asteron Life, Chubb Life & Fidelity Life are finalists at the New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards

Fidelity Life employees have unlimited access to LinkedIn’s library of courses

IFSO take their first enforcement proceeding against a Participant

Jon-Paul Hale recommends advisers are clear in explaining unfunded medicines

Workplace Savings End of Year Function 2024 on 4 November

Fidelity Life offer advisers opportunity to go on professional development course

FinTech NZ Annual Meeting on 6 November

Retirement Commissioner says there’s a “crucial need” for all political parties to support a stable retirement policy

Mental Health Minister announces Child and Youth Mental Health and Addiction Prevalence Survey

Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector

24 Sep 2024 - The External Reporting Board (XRB) has announced that within the month they will publish a consultation document exploring options for transitional adjustments to the Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards.  https://www.xrb.govt.nz/news/latest-news/

24 Sep 2024 - The Financial Markets Authority have published their KiwiSaver Annual Report 2024. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/reports-and-papers/kiwisaver-report/

26 Sep 2024 - The RBNZ have published their submission to Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry into Banking Competition, which outlines the RBNZ’s financial stability mandate, and highlights areas where they can support competition in the banking sector. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/09/rbnz-releases-banking-competition-select-committee-submission

Objectives Settings in Advicemonster

This quick tutorial takes you through how to set the client’s objectives in Advicemonster.

New Active Benefits are now available to Accuro policyholders

Accuro Policyholders now have access to a range of Active Benefits, as part of their UniMed membership. While policy cover remains the same since the transfer of Accuro’s insurance portfolio to UniMed on 31 May, Accuro members can now access a range of UniMed member benefits. Benefits include:

• 20% off sitewide Parachute first aid (available until 31 Oct 2024)

• 15% Off Allianz Travel Insurance

• 20% Off MoleMap Checkups

• 30 days free at Snap Fitness

• Get an intro to 9Round Fitness

• Free Hearing Health Checkups

• Discounts at Specsavers Optometrists

More news:

mySolutions webinar 'Creating strong customer engagement through Booster's client and adviser facing tools' 2 October

FSC webinar 'Cultivating mental wellness at work' 10 October

ANZIIF offer an Insurance Risk Management Study Course

TSB are looking for a Head of Customer Operations

Entries to the Southern Cross Wayfinder Awards close 30 September

Terry Ball says Robo-advice has a long way to go

KiwiSaver passes milestone of $100 billion of funds under management

Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index fell by 2.2 points to 89.2 in the September quarter

The Banking Ombudsman Scheme saw a record number of cases

Calls for a public education campaign around consumer data right (CDR) regime

This week is Mental Health Awareness week

AIA launch new campaign offering customers up to three months off their premiums

AIA NZ has launched its latest campaign which offers new and existing customers up to three months off their premiums.

• First month free when customers take out a new eligible insurance policy between 18 September and 22 November 2024, and have the policy issued by 23 December 2024.

• Second month free when customers add and activate AIA Vitality membership within 6 weeks of the policy being issued.

• Third month free when customers reach Silver Status with AIA Vitality within the first 10 months.

• Existing AIA Vitality member at Silver Status or beyond who buy a new eligible policy, automatically get three months premium-free on the new policy.

More news:

The Adviser Platform is offering its CRM system free of charge

Kirk Hope has started his appointment as Chief Executive Officer at FSC

Financial Advice NZ's partnership with Massey University’s Financial Education and Research Centre extended for three years

The Adviser Platform Conference 2024 is on 18 October

Australian life insurance customers who stay loyal to their insurer likely to be paying higher premiums than new customers

Of the roughly 14,000 known chemicals in food packaging, around 25% have been found in the human body

Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector

18 Sep 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has refreshed its chart pack of Financial Stability Indicators that help to inform its assessment of financial stability risks. The updated indicators feature data on: 
• Households;
• The housing market;
• Businesses and agriculture;
• The resilience of Banks and Non-Bank Deposit Takers; and
• Liquidity, funding and financial markets.

https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/09/rbnz-releases-updated-financial-stability-indicators

19 Sep 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand have given a development update on the Tara-ā-Umanga Business Expectations Survey. They plan to run two more pilots (in October 2024 and January 2025) before expecting to commence regular publication of the April 2025 survey in May 2025.

19 Sep 2024 - The Financial Dispute Resolution Service's Members' Forum and Annual General Meeting is on 22 October 2024, 3.30 pm. https://fdrs.org.nz/resources/news/fdrs-members-forum-and-annual-general-meeting-2024/

19 Sep 2024 - ASIC welcomes the new Australian financial market infrastructure (FMI) laws, which introduce new powers essential to ensuring a stable and efficient Australian financial system.  The Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024 strengthens the existing regulatory regime, ensuring ASIC and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) (together, the Regulators) have strong and dependable powers to monitor, manage and respond to risks related to FMIs. https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2024-releases/24-208mr-asic-receives-new-powers-under-financial-market-infrastructure-reforms/?altTemplate=betanewsroom

23 Sep 2024 - The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its response to its July 2024 consultation on the remaking of Prudential Standard APS 117 Capital Adequacy: Interest Rate Risk in the Banking Book (Advanced ADIs), which is due to sunset on 1 April 2025. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-remakes-prudential-standard-aps-117-capital-adequacy-interest-rate-risk

IFSO reminds kiwis to review their insurance policies

The Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman (IFSO) Scheme is reminding New Zealanders to thoroughly review their insurance policies. Karen Stevens, the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman, has noted that some policyholders are unaware of specific limitations which can leave them without cover for something they thought was included. Stevens has cautioned kiwis of the need to familiarise themselves with their policy terms and conditions, paying particular attention to exclusions, as it is the consumer’s responsibility to understand the terms laid out in the policy.

More news:

Mark Banicevich believes new FAP regime creates opportunities for advisers

The FSC publish Life Insurance Industry Spotlight June 2024

Southern Cross Healthcare is looking for a Head of Enterprise Risk & Assurance

Rachel Wilson joins Fidelity Life as Business Manager Wellington region

Southern Cross release new online mindfulness practice available free to all New Zealanders

Southern Cross Healthcare  sponsors Round the Bays fun runs, including Christchurch

Kiwibank launch a new podcast

The Government has introduced The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill (No 2), aimed at preventing youth vaping

The General Practice Owners Association has laid a complaint with the Commerce Commission over “unfair” and “illegal” contracts

Website upgrade: Southern Cross Healthy Lifestyle Reward

Another upgrade we’ve recently made to Quotemonster is how users can select Southern Cross’s Healthy Lifestyle Reward. This was reviewed following adviser feedback and shows how important it is to let us know if there is something we can do to increase your user experience. 

What is the Healthy Lifestyle (HLR) Reward?

The Healthy Lifestyle Reward is a 10% discount on premium for new members who meet certain healthy lifestyle criteria and applies for up to two years.

(i) To qualify the client must be aged 21 or older and answer yes to:

• Are you a non-smoker?

• Do you eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day?

• Do you do 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most of the days of the week?

• Women: do you drink 2 or less glasses of alcohol a day?

• Men: do you drink 3 or less glasses of alcohol a day?

How to include the HLR on Quotemonster

Add in your client and health benefit details as normal, then click the company’s logo in your Result window, ensure Healthy Lifestyle Reward is selected, click Re-Crunch and your premium for Southern Cross will now include the 10% discount.

If you have any questions or feedback on this updated feature, please reach out to us on info@quotemonster.co.nz

Happy Crunching!

If you have an adviser – you tend to get better claim outcomes

Regulatory reviews in Australia have found the claims acceptance rates for the life insurance industry between distribution channels. The difference is marked – claims acceptance rates for advised retail policies was 92.1% compared to 87.8% for direct policies. For a good review check out Jack Howitt’s article here. 

Jon-Paul Hale emphasises the importance of advisers at claim time, which perhaps provides an explanation for part of the gap: Hale has questioned the use of automated portals when it comes to claims time. From his experience, there are plenty of claims where, had the clients claimed through the portals without his involvement, the clients wouldn’t have had such good outcomes. He gives a range of examples and cautions that clients can forget what cover they have and how it works – all at a time when they may be feeling overwhelmed from the medical situation they are facing. 

On the other hand, the difference between group and retail policies in Australia leans back the other way – more towards how the policy was underwritten as a potential cause for the difference in outcomes. Group insurance policies have some of the highest claims acceptance rates at just over 95%. Howitt’s explanation is compelling:

“This is likely due to the fact that group life insurance policies are typically underwritten on a group basis, which means that insurers have less risk associated with each individual policy. Retail advised policies may have lower claims acceptance rates due to the fact that they are typically more complex and may involve higher risk individuals. Direct policies may have lower claims acceptance rates due to the fact that insurers have less information about policyholders.”

More news:

Adviser to pay former clients compensation after he breached their privacy and caused them stress

Stats NZ report finds Māori businesses lead in employee wellbeing and flexibility

Survey finds 90% of family doctor clinics plan to increase their fees