Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
21 March 2024 - Insurance Contracts Bill had first reading in Parliament. https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/fcc98f82-e1f8-4aa4-6c02-08dc494421e8?Tab=history
25 March 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has published an analytical note proposing improvements to the methodology used by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to assess labour market indicators of inflationary pressure. Measuring inflationary pressure from the labour market can be improved by watching a narrow set of four high-quality indicators: 1) the job transition rate (the share of workers switching between jobs), 2) the job vacancy-to-unemployment ratio, 3) the unemployment rate, and 4) a survey measure of labour as a limiting factor for business production. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/03/improving-how-we-measure-inflationary-heat-in-the-labour-market
26 Mar 2024 - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has published Guidance for our regulated entities on managing climate-related risks. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2024/03/guidance-issued-on-managing-climate-related-risks
26 March 2024 - The Financial Markets Authority has issued warnings to Southern Cross Medical Care Society (SCMCS) and Southern Cross Pet Insurance (SPCI) for failing to apply advertised discounts to each entities’ respective insurance products. The FMA is satisfied, and both entities accept, that they breached the fair dealing provisions of the Financial Markets Conduct Act by making false or misleading representations. The representations relate to the failure on each entities’ part to correctly apply advertised discounts to affected customers’ invoices, resulting in overcharged premiums. The FMA determined that the cause of each issue was due to poor controls and/or technical errors.
SCPI made an initial report to the FMA in November 2022 disclosing some of the contraventions and later reported more details. Following these disclosures, further enquiries from the FMA and an internal review in the wider Southern Cross Group, the extent of the contraventions was established.
SCPI failed to correctly apply the following discounts:
Additional pet discount
Direct debit discount
Southern Cross membership discount.
SCMCS failed to correctly apply the following discounts:
Free child discount
Healthy lifestyle rewards discount
Low claims discount.
The total amount of SCPI premiums overcharged was $424,508, affecting 7,542 customers, approximately 1.28% of its customer base. SCMCS overcharged $161,547 across 1,957 customers, approximately 0.2% of its customer base.
https://www.fma.govt.nz/news/all-releases/media-releases/fma-warns-southern-cross/
28 Mar 2024 - The Council of Financial Regulators has released an updated Regulatory Initiatives Calendar for the financial sector for Q1 2024. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/files/regulatory-initiatives-calendar/regulatory-initiatives-calendar-q1-2024.pdf
28 Mar 2024 - The FMA is warning the public to be cautious after fake documents claiming to be issued by the FMA were sent out as part of what appears to be a ‘recovery scam’ - where previous victims of financial crimes are targeted by criminals promising to help get lost money back. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/warnings-and-alerts/
28 Mar 2024 - DIA encourages reporting entities to get RealMe verified before annual reports are due. From 1 July 2024, you’ll be able to file your AML/CFT annual report via AMLOnline. https://www.dia.govt.nz/AML-CFT-Get-your-RealMe-verified-early-this-annual-reporting-season
28 Mar 2024 - The FMA has said that overtime they will assess whether their regulatory framework needs strengthening to support better deployment of Generative Artificial Intelligence. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/opinion/gen-ai/
28 Mar 2024 - The Commerce Commission sees "good reasons" to recommend designation of the interbank payment network to Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly. https://www.interest.co.nz/banking/127024/commerce-commission-wants-more-influence-over-interbank-payments-potentially