Resolution Life purchased by Nippon Life

Nippon Life Insurance Company, a Japan-based insurer, is set to acquire full ownership of Resolution Life Australasia and the remaining 20% stake in MLC Life Insurance currently held by National Australia Bank.

MLC Life Insurance and Resolution Life Australasia will merge under a new brand, Acenda. The merger is expected to be finalised in the second half of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals. MLC Life Insurance, will begin the transition to the Acenda brand from December 2024, targeting late 2025 to complete the transition.  Once the merger is complete, Resolution Life Australasia will move to the Acenda brand in Australia, with the intention to transition the Resolution New Zealand business to the Acenda brand ‘in due course’.

Resolution Life Australasia is currently in the process of acquiring Asteron Life, Suncorp Group’s New Zealand life insurance business, which will operate as a standalone entity post-acquisition.

Tim Tez, CEO of Resolution Life Australasia, said

“New Zealand remains an important market for both Resolution Life Australasia and Nippon Life. [The] announcement will not impact our focus on completing the acquisition of Asteron Life and our support of the business’ current strategic growth agenda.”

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New Chair of Southern Cross Medical Care Society appointed

Chris Black has been appointed Chair of Southern Cross Medical Care Society (Health Society). Black joined the Health Society Board in 2021. Black has held a range of leadership positions over the course of his career, including Chief Executive of Farmers Mutual Group, ICNZ President and Commissioner of the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme. He is currently a Trustee of the Southern Cross Health Trust, Chair of the Natural Hazards Commission and Rabobank New Zealand, and a Trustee of the Mental Health Foundation.

Outgoing Chair Murray Jordan retired at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) last week.

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Mary-Jane Daly has been appointed as a Director at Partners Life

The Board of Partners Life has announced that Mary-Jane (MJ) Daly has been appointed as a Director, effective 2 December 2024. Ms Daly will assume the role of Chair on 1 February 2025, after a two-month handover period from current Chair Jim Minto.

Daly is a professional Independent Director with over 10 years’ experience. She is currently Chair of both AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited and the Fonterra Shareholders' Fund as well as being an Independent Director of Kiwi Property Group Limited and Kiwibank Limited, and a member of the MBIE Risk and Advisory Committee.

Minto joined the Board in February 2017, with his tenure concluding on 31 January 2025. During his leadership he oversaw the acquisition agreement of BNZ Life Insurance in 2020. He also facilitated the transition of Partners Life to being a wholly owned subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life Group Holdings Limited in 2022 following the shareholder sale process.

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Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector

3 Dec 2024 - On 5 December, the RBNZ will publish new statistics from the monthly New Credit Flows Survey. The New Credit Flows Survey collects data from registered banks on new lending during the month and its associated weighted average interest rates. This means from 5 December, monthly data will be available that reflects the actual interest rates being taken by customers month-to-month on new residential mortgage loans.

3 Dec 2024 - New Zealanders made a record 1003 privacy complaints to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner last financial year. Agencies (business and organisations) also reported 864 privacy breaches. https://privacy.org.nz/publications/statements-media-releases/no-one-should-be-happy-we-received-over-1000-privacy-complaints/

4 Dec 2024 - The FMA has published its Climate-Related Disclosures insights report from the first set of entities that were required to file climate statements.  https://www.fma.govt.nz/news/all-releases/media-releases/fma-encouraged-by-first-climate-statements/

4 Dec 2024 - Australia has passed two major pieces of privacy law reform: the Australian Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 and the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024. https://www.bellgully.com/insights/privacy-update-australian-government-passes-two-major-pieces-of-privacy-law-reform/

4 Dec 2024 - The annual re-weighting of the Trade-Weighted Index (TWI) takes effect on 5 December, with the new weights released. The TWI is a weighted average of the New Zealand dollar against the currencies of New Zealand’s major trading partners. There are 17 currencies included in the TWI basket. The weights are calculated using a fully bilateral trade-weighted methodology. The weight for each currency is based on each country’s direct bilateral trade in goods and services with New Zealand, for the year ended June. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/12/updated-weights-for-trade-weighted-index

5 Dec 2024 - APRA has released its general insurance and life insurance statistical publications for the September 2024 quarter. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-quarterly-general-insurance-and-life-insurance-statistics-for

5 Dec 2024 - APRA has released a response to consultation on proposed minor amendments to the prudential framework for authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs), insurers and registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensees. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-response-to-consultation-on-minor-amendments-to-prudential-2

5 Dec 2024 - The Government has launched a review of New Zealand’s competition rules, looking to update the competition settings in the Commerce Act to ensure NZ's legal framework is right; and review the governance and effectiveness of the Commerce Commission to ensure NZ's regulatory and enforcement framework is right. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/major-review-competition-lift-productivity

6 Dec 2024 - The Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson says the Commission’s annual budget has remained unchanged since 2016 and the Commission will be using its financial reserves over the next four years to run the organisation. https://www.interest.co.nz/investing/131130/retirement-commissioner-jane-wrightson-says-commission%E2%80%99s-annual-budget-has

9 Dec 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand welcomes the new Financial Policy Remit. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/12/rbnz-welcomes-new-financial-policy-remit

10 Dec 2024 - The FMA is launching a pilot “regulatory sandbox” and is asking for applications from interested parties. A regulatory sandbox is a concept which allows firms to test innovative products, services or business models.  An initial pilot phase will run from January to July 2025, with a decision on the need for a permanent FMA regulatory sandbox to be made later in the year.  https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/opinion/fma-launches-regulatory-sandbox-pilot-for-2025/

10 Dec 2024 - RBNZ's Digital Cash consultation finds cash is crucial and current payment options are not delivering what customers want. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/12/kiwis-say-cash-and-privacy-are-crucial-in-record-digital-cash-consultation-response

10 Dec 2024 - RBNZ has published Tara-ā-Umanga Business Expectations Survey: Development update following third pilot. They plan to run a fourth pilot in January 2025.  https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/-/media/project/sites/rbnz/files/publications/bse-background-material/bes-development-update-pilot3.pdf?utm_source=Reserve+Bank+of+New+Zealand&utm_campaign=8347780dcb-Stats+Alert+Business+Survey+of+expectations&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8347780dcb-597079373

11 Dec 2024 - The RBNZ has released a thematic review into how deposit takers support financial inclusion. The review provides an overview of the practices and initiatives deposit takers have introduced to support financial inclusion. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/12/rbnz-thematic-review-identifies-opportunities-to-enhance-financial-inclusion-practices

11 Dec 2024 - Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hon Andrew Bayly November 2024 diary released with the following potential financial services sector related meetings noted:

• 4 Nov 2024 – MEET: Financial Markets Authority (FMA Officials)

• 5 Nov 2024 – ATTEND: Launch of Australasian Open Banking eco system report (invited guests)

• 7 Nov 2024 – MEET: NZBA (Roger Beaumont, Miles Erwin)

• 7 Nov 2024 – CALL: Banking Ombudsman (Miriam Dean)

• 11 Nov 2024 – MEET: Kiwisaver Roundtable (invited guests)

• 11 Nov 2024 – MEET: CEO of Financial Services Council (Kirk Hope)

• 13 Nov 2024 – MEET: FMA (Craig Stobo and Samantha Barrass)

• 13 Nov 2024 – MEET: MBIE Officials (Suzanne Stew)

• 20 Nov 2024 – MEET: NZBA (Dan Huggins)

• 20 Nov 2024 – MEET: MBIE Officials (MBIE officials)

• 21 Nov 2024 – SPEAK: NZ & Australia Chartered Accontants Conference (conference attendees)

• 21 Nov 2024 – MEET: Commerce Commission Meeting (Commerce Commission Officials)

• 22 Nov 2024 – MEET: Securities Industry Association and FMA (Tim Kiefte, Bridget MacDonald, Craig Stobo, Samantha Barrass and SIA members)

• 27 Nov 2024 – PHONE: Retirement Commissioner (Jane Wrightson )

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2024-12/Proactive%20Diary%20Release%20Nov%2024%27%20Hon%20Andrew%20Bayly.pdf

Linking health providers to life providers

Find out how to link any health provider together with any life provider on Quotemonster.

Quotemonster Site upgrade - last for 2024

QuoteMonster Release report for Version 4.6.4 [13 Dec 2024]

It is our pleasure to announce the last Quotemonster site upgrade for 2024. If you haven’t tried it already, please do check out the Kiwimonster fund comparison tool for KiwiSaver funds. That’s a new service, but already has some updates we have been able to push through. Second on the list are some AI improvements to the business insurance statement of advice writing tool. If you have Advicemonster and you haven’t tried this yet - get on to it - it will move to becoming a separate paid service sometime in the first quarter next year. Some people have noticed that if they use Bing as a search engine, often because its preloaded on their computers when they purchase them, as part of the Microsoft Edge bowser, that the top Bing search result is, inexplicably, our test site. Your login won’t work there, there is a redirect on the site, but we’ve also disabled the ‘signup’ button to prevent further confusion.

A summary is below:

1.      Kiwimonster web page changes include new home page, and pricing page when you visa kiwimonster.co.nz

2.      Businessmonster – AI summary function improvement.

3.      Update QAv2 site to remove Signup button and add message on the top.

4.      Kiwimonster function changes including:

a.      Able to enter 0 for Yearly Gross Earning, KiwiSaver Balance, and Weekly Topups

b.      Able to download all history reports on Kiwisaver Dashboard

c.      Change free PDF report format to show the small charts for each fund.

d.      Wording changes for report and Kiwisaver items.

5.      Add Freshdesk help button on all pages that include contact us and Knowledge base question and answer

Quality Product Research – Major Review: the updated research rating for Cardiac Arrest

Introduction

We were challenged by an insurer regarding our rating for Cardiac Arrest. Given the significant advances in modern medicine, it was an opportune time to conduct a major review of this item and evaluate how the definition of cardiac arrest has evolved in the market. Our conclusion is that claim criteria for this benefit have improved over the years, which can lead to better outcomes for customers.

Please find our proposed changes below.

Renaming Cardiac Arrest to Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

Review Process

We began by notifying insurers and reinsurers of our intention to review this item. This included inviting them to share claims data and clarify how their definitions are applied to real claims, with appropriate references to their policy documents. We also shared a proposed rating with advisers during our research deep dive session earlier this year.

After gathering the necessary information, we updated our product database accordingly. The final rating was released in QPR v16.2 and is now live on Quotemonster.

Please note that while this document includes the proposed rating for comprehensive trauma cover, the updated rating has been applied across moderate, severe, and business covers.

Your feedback

We highly value your feedback on how these wordings are being applied to claims you may have encountered. Please email us at info@quotemonster.co.nz with details of any recent claims to help us refine our understanding, or alternatively please use the Adviser Claims Experience on Quotemonster to log your claims experience, a video on this feature can be found here.

FSC’s FAP round table breakfast with the FMA

Quality Product Research are sponsors of the Financial Services Council’s (FSC's) FAP round table breakfast with the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) last month. Several of our team were there, including Aneel Ravji, AdviceTech Lead, Kelly Pulham, National Partnerships Lead, and Russell Hutchinson, Research Director.

The FMA covered how the new regime is working, approaches to enforcement and other initiatives. Attendees were taken through the background and given an overview of the Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) regime.  Other topics included observations on remediations, fair conduct programmes and an overview of the CoFI intermediated distribution guide. Russell Hutchinson facilitated a lively Q&A session.

Here's a few snaps from the day. We highly recommend you attend the FSC round tables if you get the chance, they always make for an interesting and engaging start to the day.

Pictured, from the Financial Markets Authority, from left to right: Michael Hewes, Director, Deposit Taking, Insurance and Advice; Anna Jared, Technical Specialist – Deposit Taking, Insurance & Advice; Kyla Bottriell, Senior Adviser, External Relations; and Romil Ghelani, Head of Financial Advice

Russell Hutchinson, Director at Quality Product Research Ltd, facilitates a Q&A session.

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