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.
Swiss Re write about Health and Wellness engagement impacts
Swiss Re have published a report on how to engage customers with a health and wellness programme.
Swiss Re have published a report on how to engage customers with a health and wellness programme. They write how the proliferation of health apps and wearables has led to consumers having more data about their health and lifestyle than ever before. Two thirds of consumers are open to sharing personal data or health results in return for a benefit, whether that’s personalised health advice, discounts or something else.
For insurers there are many benefits, from increasing the frequency of touchpoints, building customer loyalty and maximising lifetime customer value. For consumers the benefits include more relevant products, better price points, meaningful financial incentives and rewards and, best of all, improved health and longevity.
Swiss Re calculated that a successful program with a 25% engagement rate can be ROI positive, after accounting for the costs of launching and running the health and wellness engagement programme including policyholder rewards, premium reductions, initial setup costs and ongoing costs. If engagement rises to 40%, profitability can be up to 9% higher compared to not having a programme in place.
John Hancock in the USA is hiring behavioural scientists and drawing on gamification elements to help encourage policyholders to lead healthier lives. For example, when customers hit an activity threshold they can spin a wheel to win rewards.
Insurance Thought Leadership discuss the success of the Vitality programme. Vitality aims to increase people’s healthspan, the time in a person’s life where they experience optimal health, through a behaviour change incentive programme. Policyholders are nudged towards healthier lifestyle choices that they’re rewarded for in various ways including discounted premiums, discounts at places like gyms and free health checks. They list benefits of the programme to the insurer including reduced frequency and severity of claims, high engagement of policyholders and high levels of retention. Over the last three decades,
“Discovery's three-decade journey provides robust evidence that a significant increase in the level of physical activity reduces by 49% the mortality for individuals aged 45 to 65, and a remarkable 61% reduction for those older. Positive impacts have further manifested within annual medical expenditures, where the most engaged participants have 15% lower claim costs than the less engaged, risk-adjusted by age and medical conditions. A longitudinal study on the people who showed a low level of physical activity during the initial six-month period showed a subsequent 14% reduction in hospital medical costs for the subgroup that notably elevated their engagement levels over the ensuing four and a half years.”
AIA NZ have recently released statistics on how AIA Vitality has contributed to notable shifts in health metrics. By September 2023 there was a 20% increase in members moving from an unhealthy body mass index (BMI) range to a healthier one. Similarly, there was a 51% improvement in blood pressure levels, 26% in cholesterol levels, and 81% in glucose levels.
What do you want us to write about?
We’d love to find out what you’d like to read more of this year on the blog. Local industry news? Global insurance news? Health news? Insurtech?
We’d love to find out what you’d like to read more of this year on the blog. Local industry news? Global insurance news? Health news? Insurtech? Let us know here.
Our top read stories since we switched to the new look Chatswood website were Swiss Re’s take on sustainability in life and health insurance, Fidelity Life’s product enhancements and Accuro and Unimed's announcement of their proposal to combine.
Nick Astwick explains how Southern Cross Health Society remains economically sustainable
Nick Astwick, chief executive at Southern Cross, has spoken about how Southern Cross Health Society remains economically sustainable. He details the three key things that the not-for-profit friendly society relies on to keep it sustainable.
Nick Astwick, chief executive at Southern Cross, has spoken about how Southern Cross Health Society remains economically sustainable. He details the three key things that the not-for-profit friendly society relies on to keep it sustainable:
· Young and healthy members - Astwick talks about how having younger, healthier members keeps claims down.
· Prevention – a focus on preventing sickness from happening, like a pilot programme the Health Society is running that offers bowel cancer screening.
· Membership growth and retention – ensuring affordable coverage and accessible benefits to help maintain tenure.
More daily news:
Swiss Re release report on the global economic and insurance market
Partners Life "Last Performance” campaign wins at Agency of the Year awards
The FSC welcome the incoming government
Southern Cross Health Society Annual General Meeting 6 December
Asteron Life customers can score a $50 Prezzy card for every $500 in new premium, up to $5000
MAS webinar 'Financial wisdom for a purposeful retirement' 5 December
Sharesies has launched its KiwiSaver scheme to the general public
David Green says mortgage lending should be taken out of the CCCFA and given its own legislation
Chubb has appointed Adit Witjaksono as property manager for Australia and New Zealand
FintechNZ Annual Meeting 2023 rescheduled to 6 December
Swiss Re write about redefining sustainability in life and health insurance
Daisy Ning, Head Life & Health Re APAC ex. China, writes about how sustainability can be applied more broadly in the insurance and reinsurance context. Swiss Re believe sustainability aligns with what they refer to as the ‘3A’s’ of life and health insurance:
accessibility (the ease of acquiring coverage), availability (whether suitable plans and products exist to cover the full range of L&H needs), and affordability (whether products and plans are priced fairly and within consumers’ means).
Ning advocates for formulating strategies that manage risk, improve adaptability and explore opportunities – regardless of market conditions; assessing trends and value delivered to clients and adjusting as necessary; and enhancing value delivered to clients by making insurance solutions more relevant.
The global protection gap in 2022 was sitting at US 406 billion in premium equivalent terms, up 1.5% since 2021. A recent Deloitte estimate has the Australian public at 60 – 80% underinsured. A Swiss Re estimate of NZ’s mortality protection gap was USD 435 billion (NZD 670 billion) or more than USD 540 000 for each household, as of 2020.
Ning suggests we need to leverage connectivity and digitalisation to make products more affordable; leverage big data and advanced analytics to uncover insights into market trends, customer behaviour and risk factors and create products that address emerging needs discovered through this process; look at digital health underwriting; and increase reach through building alliances with online platforms, aggregators, fintechs and other digital players.
More daily news:
Katrina Shanks works through pros and cons of Trusts
Industry leaders suggest how incoming government can support the industry
mySolutions launches New Adviser Academy
FintechNZ Annual Meeting 2023 3pm on 23 November
ANZ awarded New Zealand's top bank for small business by Canstar NZ
Link financial group awarded one of the Best Mortgage Companies to Work for in New Zealand
Ben Lovelock appointed as Chief Risk Officer at AIA
Ben Lovelock has been appointed as Chief Risk Officer at AIA. Lovelock has a wealth of industry experience with roles spanning actuarial and finance practice areas. He was previously Head of Ratings, Group Treasury for AIA Group.
AIA NZ CEO Nick Stanhope said
“It’s great to have someone of Ben’s calibre and experience able to receive the baton from Doune and take on this critical role for AIA NZ”
Lovelock succeeds Doune Connett, who has retired.
More daily news:
Suncorp NZ announces an extended parental leave offering and financial baby prep program
Katrina Shanks writes about the importance of good governance
Naomi Ballantyne will speak at EQUALIZE
Swiss Re publishes its annual World Insurance Sigma Report
Three new members appointed to the Board of the Māori Health Authority
The Monetary Policy Committee agreed to leave the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.5%
Simfuni has launched an insurance premium payment platform in Australia and New Zealand
Nib's Easy Health offer reduces pre-existing condition stand-down time and offers 10% discount on premiums
Nib is making their policies more attractive by reducing its stand-down period for pre-existing conditions from three years to two years and by offering a 10% discount on premiums for the life of the policy with their Easy Health offer. This offer is available until 29 September 2023 for new clients under 60 years of age.
More daily news:
Russell Hutchinson writes of factors making the service advisers offer more in demand
mySolutions webinar 'Opening the door to evidence based investments for everyday Kiwis' 12 July 9am
Katrina Shanks writes of the global protection gaps identified in Swiss Re report
FMA to give confidentiality order recipients more support information
Clinton Stanger writes of the value of liability cover for advisers
The Australian financial advice industry saw almost 600 advisers leave the sector in 12 months
The Adviser Platform one of Insurance Business’ global 5-star technology and software providers 2023
Research finds the gender gap on KiwiSaver balances has grown to 25%
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
10 Jul 2023 - Minister of Finance, Hon Grant Robertson, June 2023 diary released with the following potential financial services sector related meeting noted:
• 8 June 2023 – Meeting with RBNZ Officials
• 12 June 2023 – Meetings with Treasury Officials
• 15 June 2023 – Meeting with Insurance Council of Australia, Insurance Industry representatives
• 15 June 2023 - Meeting with Swiss Re
• 19 June 2023 – Meetings with Treasury Officials
• 20 June 2023 - Meeting with ICNZ President Toni Ferrier, Insurance Councillor Tim Grafton
• 20 June 2023 – Meeting with Treasury Officials
• 26 June 2023 – Meetings with Treasury Officials
• 26 June 2023 - Meeting with Minister Edmonds, Bank CEs, ASB, ANZ, BNZ
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-07/Ministerial%20Diary%20June%202023.pdf
10 Jul 2023 - The FMA are considering using our exemption power to exempt certain CREs from the requirement to include a link to their climate statements in their annual report, with conditions, for a period of two years. Submissions close 7 August 2023. https://www.fma.govt.nz/business/focus-areas/consultation/climate-related-disclosures-timing-challenge/
10 Jul 2023 - The RBNZ is providing affected entities with an opportunity to review the amended banking prudential requirement (BPR) documents before finalising the framework for the proposed mutual capital instrument. Affected entities have until 31 July to provide any further feedback. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2023/07/mutual-capital-instrument-rules-near-completion
Swiss Re reports on mortality trends
Swiss Re’s latest report, which can be found here - The future of life expectancy: Forecasting long-term mortality trends for insurance, investigates life expectancy trends, developments and medical advancements that have contributed to rising life expectancy and estimates what the future causes of death trends will be.
Stats NZ shows that life expectancy at birth in 1955 was 68 for men and 73 for women. By 2019 that had increased dramatically to 80 for men and 83.5 for women.
Recent drivers of big increases in life expectancies have included improved diagnoses and treatment of cardiovascular disease and people quitting smoking. Since 2010, in many developed areas mortality improvement has slowed or plateaued.
In America, life expectancy has declined in recent periods, due to factors including unequal access to healthcare; high levels of opioid addiction and death rates; societal obesity; and high levels of deaths from violent crimes. Healthcare is so expensive, 28% of Americans said they skipped medical care due to costs, with 42% of uninsured Americans skipping medical care because of costs.
High socioeconomic groups in America generally have higher mortality improvements than the overall population, with continuing divergence in mortality trends between those at either end of the socioeconomic scale.
Socioeconomic status is a major determinant of mortality risk in many mature markets, with the risk of dying inversely proportionate to income levels. Large international studies have shown that individuals of lower socioeconomic status have greater premature mortality than those with high socioeconomic status. Low socioeconomic status is also associated with a 2.1-year reduction in life expectancy between the ages of 40–85.
Although, by comparison with the United States, New Zealanders have good life expectancy, there are many countries where it is higher. We continue to lose many years of life expectancy to treatable conditions. Chatswood examined possible life expectancy gains by comparing death rates for the top ten causes of early death with those in other OECD countries, and identifying the gains that could be made by improving mortality to the level of the average of the OECD and the best in the OECD. A summary of the research is included here. If you would like to obtain a copy of the full mortality improvement report, please contact either Kelly Pulham at kelly@quotemonster.co.nz or Russell Hutchinson Russell.hutchinson@chatswood.co.nz.
The report identifies neurogenerative and aging diseases such as Alzheimer’s to become a more significant cause of death.
The risk factors of dementia are varied, with 40% falling into the range of being potentially modifiable behaviours and activities throughout life (see Figure 10). The remaining 60% of the risk remains unknown, likely comprising genetic factors, as yet unidentified lifestyle factors and other determinants. Higher incidence in future could be influenced by a growing proportion of people with a high BMI leading to Type 2 diabetes, along with air pollutants and consumption of processed foods.
Swiss Re expect lifestyle factors including rising rates of obesity and diabetes to put future life expectancy gains at risk.
The World Obesity Federation estimates that 1 in 5 women and 1 in 7 men will be living with obesity by 2030, equating to one billion people globally. If the US continues on its current trajectory, it would imply that 90% of its population could be overweight or obese by 2042.
They also highlight emerging risks as a future threat to life expectancy, whether through known risks like climate change and antimicrobial resistance or as yet unknown risks such as new diseases or some other development.
Future drivers of improvements in mortality are predicted to be due to advanced cancer diagnostics and the evolution of personalised, precision medicine. Swiss Re write that aging-related and neurodegenerative diseases will likely benefit from improvement in treatments over the next couple of decades. Lifestyle and behaviour modifications to improve nutrition and physical activity could have a substantial impact on diabetes and obesity-related mortality.
More daily news:
Southern Cross Healthcare appoint Mark Phillips as Chief Digital Officer
Health workforce plan includes investing in Pacific health workforce
Scams on the rise in NZ
Scams have been taking prime place in the media recently, with everything from travellers being warned against connecting to Wi-Fi networks to police warning people what to look out for, police making significant arrests in term-deposit-style scams to the FMA warning about comparison websites.
Cert NZ recently reported that financial losses as a result of cyber crimes were up 66% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the last quarter of 2022.
NZ banks and the Banking Ombudsman are working together to try and keep consumers safer from scammers. The latest initiatives is the 4 part documentary series ‘You’ve been scammed by Nigel Latta’, which starts tonight. Nigel explores the psychological tricks scammers use to exploit people and explains how better to protect yourself.
Miriam Dean KC, chair of the Banking Ombudsman scheme, said financial scams were rising exponentially and is urging banks to fast-track resolution of fraud complaints. Dean also called on other organisations oft impersonated by scammers, like NZ Post and Inland Revenue, to step up their activity in helping protect customers. Dean can see the benefits of setting up a dedicated anti-scam unit, the likes of Singapore’s Anti-Scam Command.
“Establishing an anti scam centre along these lines would have much to recommend it in my view, especially as a flood of scams grows day by day ... and scammers will turn to artificial intelligence to further their devious ends.”
More daily news:
Katrina Shanks writes of the importance of using simpler language
Sorted.org release new Money Personality Quiz
Swiss Re writes of restoring resilience: the need to reload shock-absorbing capacity
FinTechNZ: Importance of Data Quality for AML webinar July 25
Consumer Confidence Survey shows consumer confidence has improved but remains very subdued
Artificial sweetener Aspartame to be listed as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”