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.
Proposed changes to Health and Safety Laws
We take a look at the proposed changes to Health and Safety laws, whereby the government wants to reduce compliance costs and provide greater certainty for businesses.
You may have seen the proposed changes to Health and Safety laws, whereby the government wants to reduce compliance costs and provide greater certainty for businesses. Bell Gully have a good summation of the proposed reforms here, but basically the Government is endeavouring to reduce the compliance burden, clarify health and safety duties (including limiting obligations for small, low-risk businesses) and clarify the distinction between governance and operational health and safety responsibilities.
There are many opposing points of view on the changes. Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff has said
"It's disappointing to see the minister has ignored the widespread consensus on what New Zealand needs to do to improve its poor track record and instead has chosen to carve out small businesses from good health and safety practices.
Exempting small businesses from best practice health and safety makes no sense when we know that small business are riskier and need more support."
Institute of Directors general manager Guy Beatson said
"Clarifying that boards are accountable for risk management and safety culture - not hands-on management - will mean directors can better focus on their core governance role without inadvertently overstepping."
Mike Cosman, chair of the Institute of Safety Management said
"The reforms are focused instead on costs to businesses of prevention and not the much greater costs of harm.
This seems to be looking through the wrong end of the telescope to us because the cost of our poor health and safety record is north of $4.9 billion per year to say nothing of the impact on workers and their families."
Russell Hutchinson has taken a look at the proposed regulations and put in his two cents.
As a country we have a not-terrible, but not-so-good track record on health and safety. One measure is fatal accidents, here I have selected countries we often use in comparisons:
Clearly, we are not as bad as, say, the United States. If we delved into that we would see significant variation on a state-by-state basis – but let’s not worry about that for now. Compared to Australia, for roughly every three people who die in a workplace accident there, four will die here. Not so good. What’s surprising is how well the UK performs – better than France and much of the EU, and better than Japan, places I normally consider to be better organised and more prescriptive in terms of employee protections. Not so! I like it when we find good data which challenges my pre-existing view. It’s a reward for paying attention to the data.
Are the proposed changes to governance liability right or wrong? One argument could be that by reducing liability on directors the workplace will become less safe. Another view is that by ensuring we place responsibility on the people who are closest to the problem we will better target the point at which better decisions can be made. Probably we will not know which until we have seen this operate for some time. Progress always seems to be so slow. Incentives also count – and the role of ACC, which has many benefits to our economy, also has some negative effects, somewhat masking the price signal in this case. I wonder if that will also get talked about.
More news:
Russell Hutchinson explains Non-Pharmac medicines coverage
AIA introducing a new excess option to AIA Private Health
AIA have updated Rules to Reinstate Policies
FSC Workplace Savings Half-Yearly Function 2025 is on 21 May
Financial Advice NZ are holding a 'Community of Practice: Central District' on 29 April
How to reduce chronic inflammation in your body
Eating well and getting regular exercise are most effective longevity tactics
Report finds deposit insurance scheme could see deposit interest rates fall significantly
Commerce Commission puts banks’ clawbacks, conversions and disincentives under scrutiny
nib research finds more adults are staying on top of essential health screenings
Recent nib research has found that more adults are staying on top of essential health screenings, but costs remain a barrier.
Recent nib research has found that more adults are staying on top of essential health screenings, but costs remain a barrier. The research was carried out in February 2025 and surveyed 1,010 Kiwi, building on the last survey conducted in December 2023. Some of the key findings include:
An increasing number of adults are keeping up with necessary health screenings - up to date with eye checks (45% up from 43%), dental check-ups (36% up from 35%), and heart health screenings (31% up from 28%).
30% believe their health is better than their peers, up from 25% in 2023.
Financial concerns are increasingly preventing Kiwi adults from accessing health checks, with 36% citing cost as a barrier (up from 29%).
80% of those with health insurance are committed to health screening checks (vs 72% overall).
More parents feel clear about which screening checks their children need (72% up from 58% in 2023).
More parents believe an annual health check is essential for their children (84% up from 75% in 2023).
More children are staying up to date with common screening tests - hearing checks (54% up from 48%), dental check-ups (66% up from 55%), eye checks (57% up from 50%) and general health exams (59% up from 57%).
Rob Hennin, Chief Executive Officer at nib New Zealand, said
“Proactive health screenings can be lifesaving and it’s really encouraging to see that Kiwi are taking the reins when it comes to their wellbeing. It’s clear to see that accessibility and cost issues continue to be barriers.”
More news:
Jason Gunn announced as new AIA Vitality Ambassador
Gallagher introduce new fundraising initiative, Gallagher Club Kickback
Partners Life go live with “no signature required” for majority of policy administration processes
mySolutions roadshows run across May in Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland
mySolutions webinar 'Exclusive Small Business Group Health' is on 23 April
Financial Advice NZ are holding an Ethics Workshop on 8 May
TAP webinar 'Ready to see TAP in action?' 8 May
Westpac launches a pilot for a basic transactional bank account
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
RBNZ Board is in the process of preparing a recommendation for the appointment of a Governor; FMA announce review of advice sector; FMA release regulatory returns snapshot; FMA publish Samantha Barrass’ speech; FMA release latest Jess Learns to Invest podcast; APRA accept Court Enforcable Undertaking from ANZ; Hon Scott Simpson’s March 2025 diary released; COFR held quarterly meeting; FMA publish fair conduct programme insights report; RBNZ welcome applications to ESAS under new criteria.
1 Apr 2025 - The RBNZ Board is in the process of preparing a recommendation for the appointment of a Governor for six months and will be sending it to the Minister soon. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2025/04/process-for-the-appointment-of-a-governor-for-a-six-month-term
2 Apr 2025 - FMA announce a review of the advice sector to help drive better outcomes for industry and consumers. It will focus on four key themes, which are:
Consumer preferences and demographics
Industry business models
Digital advice and innovation
Ease of provision of financial advice
2 Apr 2025 - The FMA release a Regulatory Returns snapshot for 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024. Key statistics (as of 30 June 2024)
1410 licensed financial advice providers submitted regulatory returns
8472 financial advisers compared to 9300 in 2021
Life and health insurance are the most common financial products advice is provided on
36 FAPs are providing digital advice and 86,500 retail clients received digital advice
97% of complaints received were settled within 3 months.
https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/reports-and-papers/financial-advice-providers-industry-snapshot/
2 Apr 2025 - The FMA publish Samantha Barrass' speech from the Financial Advice New Zealand Conference. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/speeches-and-presentations/financial-advice-new-zealand-conference/
2 Apr 2025 - The FMA release Jess Learns to Invest Episode 3 | Understanding Managed Funds with Tom Hartmann. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/podcast/jess-learns-to-invest-episode-3/
3 Apr 2025 - APRA has accepted a Court Enforceable Undertaking from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) to address ongoing weaknesses in the bank’s non-financial risk management practices and risk culture. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-accepts-court-enforceable-undertaking-from-anz-and-increases-capital-add
4 Apr 2025 - Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hon Scott Simpson, March 2025 diary released with the following potential financial services sector related meeting noted:
6 Mar 2025 – MEET: Commerce Commission Chair and CE (Dr John Small, Adrienne Meikle)
10 Mar 2025 – MEET: NZ Banking Association CE (Roger Beaumont)
10 Mar 2025 – MEET: FMA Chair and Acting CE (Craig Stobo and Liam Mason)
10 Mar 2025 – MEET: Financial Services Stakeholders (Carl Blanchard & invited guests)
10 Mar 2025 - SPEAK: Financial Services Forum
11 Mar 2025 – SPEAK: Fintech Hui
13 Mar 2025 – MEET: Financial Ombudsman Reviewer (Nanette Moreau)
18 Mar 2025 -MEET: Financial Services Council CE (Kirk Hope)
18 Mar 2025 – MEET: ASB CEO (Vittoria Short, Louise Griffin)
19 Mar 2025 – MEET: FAMNZ (Leigh Hodgetts)
24 Mar 2025 – MEET: NZBA (Roger Beaumont and Dan Huggins)
25 Mar 2025 -MEET: CE of Westpac (Catherine McGrath)
26 Mar 2025 – MEET: Banking Ombudsman CE and Chair (Nicola Sladden and Miriam Dean)
26 Mar 2025 – MEET: Retirement Commissioner (Jane Wrightson)
27 Mar 2025 – MEET: FINCAP (Jake Lilley, Fleur Howard)
27 Mar 2025 – MEET: Financial Service Federation (Katie Rawlinson)
28 Mar 2025 – ATTEND: NZ Banking Assoc Council
31 Mar 2025 - MEET: Suncorp CEO (Jimmy Higgins)
4 Apr 2025 - The Council of Financial Regulators (CoFR) held its quarterly meeting on Monday 24 March 2025. The Council discussed the key external factors that could impact the financial system, noting in particular the rapid developments in artificial intelligence and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. The Council reviewed developments in New Zealand’s payments system and noted the importance of upcoming developments like the passage of the Customer and Products Data Bill. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/news-and-publications/quarterly-statement-by-cofr-march-2025.html
4 Apr 2025 - The FMA have published their fair conduct programme insights report. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/reports-and-papers/fair-conduct-programme-insights-report/
7 Apr 2025 - The RBNZ is welcoming applications to the Exchange Settlement Account System (ESAS) under new access criteria announced on 31 March 2025. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2025/04/rbnz-welcomes-new-applications-to-the-exchange-settlement-account-system
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
CoFI came into effect; RBNZ appears before the Finance and Expenditure committee; COFR publish Q1 2025 regulatory initiatives calendar; Parliament indicate IPP3A will come into force on 1 May 2026; RBNZ is opening access to its Exchange Settlement Account System’ APRA release private health insurance risk equalisation stats; Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Bill, Financial Markets Conduct Amendment Bill and the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Amendment Bill were introduced into Parliament.
31 Mar 2025 - The Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) regime came into full effect today. 77 financial institutions have been licensed by the FMA - 17 banks, 46 insurers and 14 non-bank deposit takers (credit unions, building societies and some finance companies). https://www.fma.govt.nz/news/all-releases/media-releases/cofi-regime-in-effect/
31 Mar 2025 - The RBNZ appeared before the Finance and Expenditure Committee (FEC) for their banking inquiry and discussed the wide range of initiatives underway to support and improve competition in the banking sector. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2025/03/rbnz-outlines-work-to-support-competition
31 Mar 2025 - The Council of Financial Regulators (CoFR) has published their Regulatory Initiatives Calendar for Q1 2025. https://www.cofr.govt.nz/files/regulatory-initiatives-calendar/regulatory-initiatives-calendar-q1-2025.pdf
31 Mar 2025 - Parliament has indicated that IPP3A will come into force on 1 May 2026, and all organisations will need to have their systems in place to meet the new requirements by then. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is aiming to have the guidance developed and published on their website to allow organisations plenty of time to implement the requirements of the new Act. https://privacy.org.nz/news/statements-media-releases/the-privacy-amendment-bill-is-coming-soon-heres-what-you-need-to/
31 Mar 2025 - The RBNZ is opening access to its Exchange Settlement Account System (ESAS) following a comprehensive public consultation. The new criteria will open ESAS eligibility to more non-bank entities in two phases:
• First, to licensed non-bank deposit takers (NBDTs) in New Zealand; and
• Second, to other entities that meet the access criteria. This may include payment service providers, overseas deposit takers and operators of designated Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs)."
31 Mar 2025 - APRA has released its private health insurance risk equalisation statistics publication for the 2023/24 financial year. https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-private-health-insurance-risk-equalisation-statistics-for-4
31 Mar 2025 - Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Bill introduced into Parliament. https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/6193a33c-40d6-4354-0d5a-08dd6ff875cc?Tab=history
31 Mar 2025 - Financial Markets Conduct Amendment Bill introduced into Parliament. https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/8c9fe069-724a-4200-0d58-08dd6ff875cc?Tab=history
31 Mar 2025 - Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Amendment Bill introduced into Parliament. https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/a4d89cb0-ce82-4d28-0d59-08dd6ff875cc?Tab=history
Fidelity Life celebrates its latest 20 Career connect graduates
Last week, Fidelity Life held a celebration to honour its latest 20 Career Connect graduates. Each graduate has successfully completed their Level 5 qualifications in life, disability, and health insurance.
Last week, Fidelity Life held a celebration to honour its latest 20 Career Connect graduates. Each graduate has successfully completed their Level 5 qualifications in life, disability, and health insurance.
Anna Devereux; Women in finance scholarship recipient (Dunedin)
Ashlee Cuttance (Dunedin)
Awhina Scott; Pounamu scholarship recipient (Christchurch)
Briar Evans (Auckland)
Caitlin Hayward (Morrinsville)
Christabel Bertie (Auckland)
Grace McIntyre; Rural scholarship recipient (Dunedin)
Harpreet Rehal (Auckland)
Jenny Silva; Kōwhai scholarship recipient (Queenstown)
Kim Forsythe (Invercargill)
Kirsty Gobbie (Auckland)
Leean Te (Auckland)
Marna Breetzke; Pāua scholarship recipient (Auckland)
Matthew Roxburgh (Dunedin)
Myja Gregory (Auckland)
Namrata Kumar (Auckland)
Shiwangni Mala (Auckland)
Sydnee Taylor; Toe Toe scholarship recipient (Christchurch)
Taylah Marr; Rāngi Po scholarship recipient (Christchurch)
Vanessa Jones-Dutton (New Plymouth)
This year, 95% of Career connect graduates were women, and a quarter of the group identifies as Māori or Pasifika.
Michelle Doyle, Head of Solutions said
"More than 60% of the graduates who asked for introductions to adviser businesses have already landed jobs, excited to start careers that help New Zealanders protect what matters most.”
Since its inception in 2023, Career connect has had more than 200 registrations for 70 course places, welcomed 47 students and helped almost 40 people gain their Level 5 qualifications in life, disability, and health insurance.
Submissions to be part of the 2025 intake of Career connect closed earlier this month with nearly 70 applications from a diverse group of candidates across various ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds.
More news:
Expressions of interest for Partners Life New Adviser Training Course open
mySolutions webinar 'Navigating the future ' 2 April
FSC webinar 'How financially resilient are Kiwis?' 29 April
Adviser refunds income protection premiums in FSCL dispute
Partners Life’s new training module ‘Fair Treatment of Customers’
Partners Life have introduced a new training module ‘Fair treatment of Customers’, to help advisers be better prepared for the new Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) regulations coming into effect on 31 March.
Partners Life have introduced a new training module ‘Fair treatment of Customers’, to help advisers be better prepared for the new Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) regulations coming into effect on 31 March. The module is worth approximately 0.5 hours of CPD and is available on the Partners Life Academy.
Partners Life developed two different new eLearn modules on the fair treatment of customers – one for staff and one for independent financial advisers. The staff version focuses on how the fair conduct principle applies to daily work and interactions with clients and advisers. The adviser version includes more information on the shared responsibility for customers that is held between Partners Life as the product provider and the adviser who has a deeper understanding of the client’s personal situation and financial circumstances. Partners Life appreciate that advisers are familiar with the new CoFI legislation, however, they wanted to share their expectations in a format that would be easy to read and included a short quiz to test their understanding.
By the end of March, a customer-friendly version of their fair conduct programme and information on how Partners Life apply the fair conduct principle will be available on their website.
More news:
Southern Cross Health Insurance funds pilot for access to The Prostate Clinic
Momentum Life offer customers 20% off online wills in partnership with Public Trust
FMA ad campaign educating consumers about Fair Conduct Programme to launch soon
Experts advocate raising KiwiSaver minimum contributions to 4% from both employees and employers
Monsters in March off to a great start
We’ve kicked off our Monsters in March event series, thanks to the attendees, sponsors and speakers for making it happen.
We’ve kicked off our Monsters in March event series, holding the first session in Remuera on 18 March and the second session in Christchurch on 20 March. Thanks to the 150+ advisers that showed up to hear about personal insurance, business insurance or KiwiSaver advice. And thank you to all of our sponsors and speakers for making it happen.
Here’s a few photos from the events so far.
We’ll be holding a last on the North Shore in Auckland on 25 March – hope to see you there!
More news:
Fidelity Life will host a workshop at FANZ conference
mySolutions Member Benefits day is on 19 March
mySolutions webinar 'Artificial Intelligence: is it for you?' 26 March
Southern Cross Health Insurance appoint Russell Simpson Chief of Healthcare Partnerships
Registrations open for the Million Dollar Round Table’s Annual Meeting in Miami in June
Advisers originate about 70% of Kiwibank’s mortgages by volume
Unimed CEO to step down
UniMed has announced that CEO Louise Zacest will be stepping down at the end of March.
UniMed has announced that CEO Louise Zacest will be stepping down at the end of March. UniMed Chair Peter Tynan said the organisation was deeply grateful for Louise’s leadership over the past four years.
“Under her guidance, UniMed has become New Zealand’s third largest health insurer, expanded into health & safety and mental wellbeing, and significantly strengthened its internal capabilities.”
Lynne Hayman has been appointed as interim CEO, for the period 31 March to 31 October 2025, while a recruitment process for a new CEO is undertaken. Hayman joined UniMed late last year as Interim Chief Operating Officer.
More news:
Fidelity Life's A- (Excellent) financial strength rating affirmed by AM Best
AIA NZ is recruiting for a new head of investments
AIA Group delivered US$6,605 million OPAT in the year ended 31 December 2024.
PPS Mutual is preparing to launch in New Zealand
The FMA contractor budget more than $13 million over the 2023/24 reporting year
What’s the biggest health claim paid for a procedure?
The health insurance industry has been experiencing a time of rising medical costs, where both volume of claims and inflation have been increasing. We’ve taken a closer look at individual claims values that a few insurers have released recently.
The health insurance industry has been experiencing a time of rising medical costs, where both volume of claims and inflation have been increasing. We’ve taken a closer look at individual claims values that a few insurers have released recently. As you can see from the data below, the costs of individual claims can be astronomical.
nib regularly publish their top 5 health claims by month. RiskinfoNZ has an article collating historical nib’s top health claims by month here.
nib’s top health claims for January 2025
Treatment Cost Gender Age
Spinal surgery $101,000 Male 16
Cardiac surgery $85,000 Male 46
Cardiac surgery $56,000 Male 70
Cardiac surgery $54,000 Female 70
Digestive surgery $53,000 Male 72
nib’s top health claims for December 2024
Treatment Cost Gender Age
Cardiac surgery $103,000 Male 72
Cancer surgery $102,000 Male 77
Cardiac surgery $93,000 Male 80
Cardiac surgery $88,000 Male 76
Spinal surgery $87,000 Male 48
But these do not top the charts of what we are currently aware. Southern Cross’s most expensive surgical claims were $256,165 for a spinal fusion procedure and $127,191 for a breast reconstruction.
While Partners Life don’t release a similar monthly overview of their top claims, their ‘The story behind our claims’ slideshow highlights their largest single payouts since 2011. The most expensive claims paid out were a whopping $1.6 million+ for Total and Permanent Disability or Income cover; $2.9million +for Life cover; $3.2million + for Trauma cover and $982,000+ for Private Medical Cover.
While the majority of claims won’t cost anywhere near as much, what used to be ample caps of some older medical values don’t seem so rosy in light of recent inflation and surging claims costs. Yet we haven’t seen any insurers coming out and indexing claims caps. We think that’s wrong, and we’ll offer a score boost to the first insurer who offers indexed caps.
What types of claims have you heard of and how did they go? We would love to hear more from you, especially if you are a Quotemonster subscriber, through our adviser claims experience tool (check the side menu when you are next logged in).
More news:
mySolutions webinar 'What got you here, won't get you there' 19 March
Steve Wright on potential implications of government’s plan to use private health care facilities for public health treatments
Good Returns has an interesting article by Steve Wright considering some of the implications of what may happen if the government goes ahead with their reported plan to consider using private health care facilities to reduce elective surgery waiting lists.
Good Returns has an interesting article by Steve Wright considering some of the implications of what may happen if the government goes ahead with their reported plan to consider using private health care facilities to reduce elective surgery waiting lists. Aside from the obvious benefits of kiwis on public health waiting lists potentially getting treated quicker, Wright considers some potential downsides, from reduced pressure to improve public sector capacity, to the private sector becoming overwhelmed or people ditching their health insurance and the private sectors viability coming into question.
We think these risks are low, given the scale of the intervention proposed by Minister Brown – just $50m to be spent between March and the end of June. For context, ACC will purchase around $500m in surgery in the 2023/24 year, and the total New Zealand Health budget is circa $16.6 billion. For an individual who gets a needed surgery a little faster, we are delighted, but this intervention is unlikely to make a big impact.
More news:
Partners Life new training module ‘Fair Treatment of Customers’
Fidelity Life offers drought-affected Taranaki customers premium relief
The FMA is on track to approve 77 licence applications under CoFI regime
Finance Minister Nicola Willis is reassessing the capital held by banks