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.
Bill could modernise insurance law
On March 21st, a Member’s Bill was drawn that, if passed, could modernise insurance law. Labour Party MP Duncan Webb, a former insurance lawyer, says his Insurance Contracts Bill will require “…insurance contract terms to be both clear and fair”.
If the Bill is passed, it would introduce penalties for insurers who failed to act in good faith, such as not completing a claim in a timely manner. The Bill requires polices be clearer and in plain language, to better help consumers understand the terms of the insurance they’re signing up for.
We’ll keep an eye on this and report back as the situation progresses.
More daily news:
Clive Fernandes talks about Generative and Customer-Facing AI impact on financial advisers
Steve Wright talks about how advisers need to be wary of the Dunning Kruger effect
Jeff Royle says banks have been slow to disclose to customers about clawbacks
The Financial Services Council has launched Empower Women
TSB receive three Canstar awards for their credit cards
Jon-Paul Hale talks of how identity fraud and paper document security concerns are on the rise
Gallagher Bassett publish annual insurer survey report The Carrier Perspective: 2024 Claims Insights
Chubb Life has partnered with Kiwi charity Keep New Zealand Beautiful
The latest ANZ Business Outlook Survey shows business confidence levels fell 12 points
Survey finds 44% of insurance advisers in Australia are charging clients for advice
Quarterly rate review results in rising premiums at nib
nib has reviewed its health insurance premiums. Current members’ premiums are reviewed annually at their policy anniversary, with the increases ranging from 9% to 16%, as per below.
Premiums for prospective new members will be updated from 1 April 2024, with new rates being automatically updated in nibAPPLY.
You can find out more in their frequently asked questions here.
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mySolutions webinar 'Ark Adventures' 9am 27 March
Craig Tyson leaves head of Australasian listed property role at ANZ investments
Maaike van Tol leaves head of asset allocation role at ANZ investments
FSC publish KiwiSaver Industry Spotlight December 2023
Fidelity Life and Kaplan Professional join together to deliver Career Connect training
Fidelity Life has partnered with Kaplan Professional to deliver their Career Connect financial adviser training programme. Kaplan Professional will join as the programme’s education provider, in conjunction with Massey University.
Fidelity Life has partnered with Kaplan Professional to deliver their Career Connect financial adviser training programme. Kaplan Professional will join as the programme’s education provider, in conjunction with Massey University. Kaplan Professional will fund a new Women in Finance Scholarship, to join Fidelity Life’s existing six scholarships.
Applications are open for Career Connect’s 2024 intake, with 30 places, including 7 scholarships, available. The programme runs from May until December 2024.
The scholarships available are:
Women in Finance scholarship brought to you by Kaplan Professional, designed to assist female applicants to become financial advisers
Rural scholarship brought to you by FMG, designed for applicants with a rural connection
Pounamu scholarship, designed to assist Māori applicants
Kōwhai scholarship, designed to assist Pasifika applicants
Rāngi Po scholarship, designed to support underrepresented identities in our industry.
Toe Toe scholarship, designed to recognise outstanding young applicants.
Pāua scholarship, designed to recognise outstanding applicants who demonstrate excellence.
Kaplan Professional CEO Brian Knight said
“Programs like Career connect provide the ideal launchpad for a bright future in financial advice, so we are delighted to collaborate with Fidelity Life on what we believe is a terrific initiative to strengthen New Zealand’s talent pipeline.”
“We also remain steadfast in our commitment to encouraging and promoting diversity within the industry, so we are thrilled to be able to provide a scholarship for women in every intake of the program.”
There is a free online career evening on March 19 where those interested can find out more about becoming a financial adviser, what being a financial adviser is really like and how Career Connect can support you to gain the qualifications and skills necessary to become a successful financial adviser.
More daily news:
Westpac introduces the LanguageLoop interpreting service
ANZ discloses slight improvement in its gender pay gap for 2023
Survey finds 62% of kiwis feel KiwiSaver contributions should be compulsory
The Co-operative bank is hosting a webinar on 12 March about proposed governance changes
The New Zealand Health Survey found roughly a million New Zealanders missing out on seeing their GP
New campaign tries to lure NZ health workers to Australia
Kordia study highlights toll cyberattacks take on New Zealand's large businesses
Suncorp Group announce 1H24 financial results
The Suncorp Group has announced their 1H24 financial results.
The Suncorp Group has announced their 1H24 financial results.
· Group net investment returns A$396 million (up significantly from A$167 million in 1H23).
· Group gross written premium of A$6.9 billion, up 16.3%.
· Group net profit after tax was A$582 million, up 5.4%.
· Half year profit after tax was NZ $94 million, up 3.3% from the previous comparable period (pcp).
· Asteron Life Half year profits of NZ$14 million, a decrease of 12.5% from the pcp.
· Asteron Life had in-force premiums of $330 million, up 7.1%.
· Asteron Life’ bought in new business of $13 million, up $1 million on the pcp.
More daily news:
Sir John Key is to retire from the Australian and New Zealand boards of ANZ
A year in review
We look back at some of the big industry news, mergers, acquisitions, court cases and people changes in 2023.
2023 has been a difficult year for consumers and businesses alike. Conditions are similar to last year, with inflation remaining high, resulting in a continuing cost-of-living crisis, the OCR set at 5.5% and the RBNZ not ruling out a further hike next year, and housing prices only just starting to rise. How has that affected the insurance sector? Combined with an increase in regulatory red-tape tangling up banks, there has been a spike in lapse rates that very much looks like it is driven by the same forces.
NZ was badly affected by natural disasters this year, with insurers having to fork out $3.5 billion in general insurance claims for the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle. Such heavy claims have impacted general insurers, perhaps part of the reason why Tower is looking to do a strategic review of its ownership structure.
It is this situation which greets the new National-Act-NZ First coalition government. They have outlined a 100-day plan that includes: stopping work on the Income Insurance Scheme; introducing legislation to narrow the Reserve Bank’s mandate to price stability (removing the mandate to ensure maximum sustainable employment); signing a memorandum of understanding with Waikato University to progress a third medical school; disestablishing the Māori Health Authority; taking the first steps to extend free breast cancer screening to those aged up to 74; repealing amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 and regulations; and setting five major targets for the health system. National promised to roll back the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) and to make changes to allow kiwis to split their KiwiSaver savings between different providers during the election campaign, so we will be watching how this plays out next year. In August, then National Party Leader, Chris Luxon, told the Financial Services Council conference that it was also their intention to repeal the Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Act 2022. That hasn’t explicitly made it into the coalition agreement, but may possibly be covered by the planned regulation sector reviews to which the coalition commits under the Act Policy Programme. Although regulatory relief is often welcomed by the sector, so is long-term stability, so we have found views split on the proposed changes to the conduct law.
As of March 2023, all financial advice providers needed to have obtained their level 5 certificates to continue operating this year. We wrote about the impact of this on the market and just how many financial advice providers and financial advisers there are in the September 2023 Quarterly Life and Health Sector Report.
Accuro and Unimed members voted in favour of combining operations. Approval from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is likely to come early next year. The Lifetime Group acquired Protection Solutions. Fidelity Insurance, formerly known as Westpac Life, was integrated into the Fidelity Life Assurance Company. In March 2023 Cigna NZ changed its name to Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited (Chubb Life NZ) and is now trading under the Chubb brand. nib have told customers they are planning to amalgamate, with their health insurance company ‘nib nz limited’ and their life and living insurance company ‘nib nz insurance limited’ combining to form one single company known as nib nz limited. The acquisition of Partners Life by Dai-Ichi has been made more real by the appointment of new personnel and the announcement of Naomi Ballantyne’s change of role to come in 2024. The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) have announced they will merge to form the Financial Advice Association of Australia. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) denied the sale of Suncorp Bank to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).
There were some interesting court cases, with AMP settling with Australian advisers for A$100 million; MAS were penalised $2.1 million for making false and misleading representations to customers; Cigna was fined $3.575m for false and/or misleading representations.
There were lots of new faces joining the industry or changing roles this year.
AIA New Zealand appointed Michele Embling as an independent non-executive Director; Ben Lovelock as Chief Risk Officer; Shaun Baird as Chief Financial Officer; Maddie Sherlock as Head of Customer Operations; Andrew Anisi as Senior Manager Contact Centre & Business Solutions; Aaron Gilmore and Katie Hunter as AIA Vitality Coaches; Calvin Romeo to the role of head of ASB Partnership.
Asteron Life appointed Kirsten Young as the National Manager Adviser Distribution.
Chubb Life board chairman Steven Fyfe retired and Paul Brock took over his role as Chairman while Linley Wood joined as an Independent Director to the board. Chubb appointed Monique Ravening as its new Head of Underwriting and Erica Hamer as Chubb's new Wellington-based Business Partnership Manager. Adit Witjaksono was appointed as property manager for Australia and New Zealand.
Fidelity Life made some new appointments to key roles. David Winspear was appointed as Head of Channel Strategy, Michelle Doyle appointed as the new Head of Solutions and Kylie Oldham appointed as Senior Group Insurance Business Manager. Leigh Bennett was promoted internally to the role of Head of Underwriting and Mat Bark was appointed as Head of Channel Enablement. Giselle Baker was appointed as Head of Data and Analytics. In October, Ian Clancy acted as the Acting CEO until Campbell Mitchell was bought on board as the new CEO after Melissa Cantell resigned. Sam Kelly was appointed as Head of Regulatory Affairs.
MAS appointed Matt Harvey as Chief Distribution and Marketing Officer, Craig Ward as Chief Innovation and Digital Officer, Dan Mead as an Investment Manager.
nib appointed Stu Crowther as new National Manager – Adviser Distribution; Ian Sargeant as National Manager – Group, Partnerships & Strategy; Chris Carnall as Head of Distribution; Stan Bennetto as Group Health Business Development Manager.
Partners Life appointed Gemma Vivian as GM Adviser Engagement; Gareth Allen as Senior Manager Adviser Partnerships. Naomi Ballantyne announced her retirement from Partners Life in March 2024.
Southern Cross Healthcare appointed Mark Phillips as Chief Digital Officer; Dr Erica Whineray Kelly as Transformation Lead for Women’s Health; Jo Fair as Chief of People & Culture; Monica Goldwater as Chief Nursing Officer.
Suncorp New Zealand appointed Suraiya Phillimore-Smith as its new Chief Customer Officer. Lindsay Tanner was appointed as an independent director of the firm’s three boards.
Justine Gilliland was appointed to Unimed's board.
ASB appointed Carl Ferguson Chief Financial Officer and Rebecca James as its new Executive General Manager of Business Banking.
Westpac welcomed a new GM of Consumer Banking and Wealth, Michael Norfolk.
Kiwibank appointed Julia Jack as chief purpose and brand officer.
TSB appointed Kerry Boielle as new CEO after Donna Cooper resigned. Penny Burgess was appointed General Manager Customer Delivery; Molly Auva'a-O'Brien as General Manager Operational Excellence.
AMP appointed Blair Vernon as CFO.
Tim Grafton announced he’s stepping down as chief of the Insurance Council of New Zealand next year.
Tony Dench started as Financial Advice NZ’s interim CEO following Katrina Shanks’ departure to head up The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF). Sonja Barrett was appointed as Financial Advice New Zealand’s Board Member Director (Risk) and Peter Fa’afiu was appointed as an Independent Member Director on the Financial Advice NZ Board. Stefanos Boulieris joined Financial Advice NZ, communicating online webinars and the upcoming conference in 2024 and Sarah Maxwell joined as Communications and Social Media Manager.
Tim Tez and Sarah Phillips joined ANZIIF’s Board of Directors.
Anna Scott, Ana-Marie Lockyer and Campbell Mitchell all joined the board of the Financial Services Council (FSC). David Bishop was appointed to the Chief Marketing Officer role.
The FMA appointed Daniel Trinder as Executive Director – Strategy and Design; Michael Hewes as Director for Deposit Taking, Insurance and Advice; John Horner as Director of Markets, Investors and Reporting; Peter Taylor as Director Specialist Supervision and Response; Stuart Johnson as Chief Economist; Sharon Thompson as Executive Director – Transformation and Operational Delivery.
Graeme Edwards took on the role of Lifetime Group director and chairman and David Haintz was appointed as an independent chairman of Lifetime Group Holdings and its subsidiaries.
Craig Wagstaff joined New Zealand Home Loans (NZHL) as its new general manager for franchise, distribution, and marketing.
The Adviser Platform (TAP) appointed Pooja Shetty as Senior Operations Specialist and Naz Mistry as a Compliance Specialist and Adviser Support.
Some big names in the industry have retired, with David Haak, Tony Arthur, and our very own Rob Dowler retiring
Here’s to another exciting year in 2024!
Q&A with Karty Mayne from Rosewill Consulting
We had the pleasure of talking to Karty Mayne, Director and Compliance Consultant at Rosewill consulting.
We had the pleasure of talking to Karty Mayne, Director and Compliance Consultant at Rosewill consulting.
What services does Rosewill Consulting provide?
Rosewill Consulting was set up with a mission to make compliance sexy! If we don’t think it is who will!
We provide Licensing and Compliance Services for financial services businesses. We also conduct independent audits and compliance reviews and provide specialist training. We have an online compliance and training system that has an extensive library of up-to-date professional development material.
What do you see as areas of focus in 2024?
Here are my top three…
Newly licensed entities, such as Financial Advice Providers, Head Groups and other types of licensees will need to have a strong focus on implementation. Being regulated requires creating a workplan and delivering on it. Initial policies and procedures may have design flaws or not be sufficiently robust so this is an important time to make those key adjustments.
On a wider scale, the world is facing ongoing increases in the nature and volume of cyber-attacks. Regulators such as the FMA have published a lot of guidance on this but from our experience regulated entities still need a lot of help in this area.
The pace of regulatory change hasn’t slowed up at all. 2024 will introduce new obligations such as additional AML/CFT Regulation, Conduct Licensing, Deposit Takers Act and the review of the Insurance contract law to name a few. Plus, the Coalition government will surely be adding to this list.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to start up Rosewill Consulting?
I was initially sceptical about moving into a risk and compliance role. However, I quickly learnt the importance of the role and the value it can add across an organisation. My time as a Regulator was an apprenticeship into all aspects of issues within financial services and gave me a broad insight to the challenges of all businesses, large and small. When I left, I wanted to share back what I had learnt to help strengthen the industry and provide a plain English perspective on governance, risk and compliance.
What area of compliance do you think Financial Advice Providers (FAPs) need the most help with? Do you see any changes to this with the new government coming in?
From our experience, most FAPs and their advisers still don’t really know the extent of their new regulatory obligations. I expect that the FMA will start to publish guidance to assist FAPs with implementation and help them mature their approach to complying with the regime. The Conduct Licensing is a great addition for New Zealand as it helps us lift our game for product providers and is great for consumers. Hopefully, the government has other priorities and lets the industry get on with meeting the fair conduct principles.
Could you tell us a bit about what your compliance and governance courses cover?
Over the last few years, we have been running course and coaching new Compliance Officers. Often the person has been thrown in the deep end and needs to have both the theoretical and practical understanding of their role. This year we added a focus on oversight and ran practical governance and compliance courses. The blend of running both together means that the business owners/directors can work through responsibilities with their compliance person and come with clear workplan for 2024.
What is one thing you wish someone had told you when you were younger?
To follow your passion and back yourself. I always knew that I wanted to run my own business and now wish I had got underway sooner. In saying that, I have loved every company I have worked for and each has taught me so much. It’s always the people around you who make the difference.
What’s the last book you read?
I just finished “Resurrection Walk” by Michael Connelly. It is part of a series about the characters of the Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller and Detective Harry Bosch. These books are now series on Netflix and so I had a resurgence of interest in reading the latest books! Easy holiday reading!
Disclosure: Quality Product Research Limited has used the services of Rosewill Consulting Limited and found them to be excellent.
More daily news:
Westpac wins five awards at the KangaNews Awards 2023
George Crosby has been appointed as the new chief investment officer for ANZ Investments
Te Whatu Ora to roll out 24/7 telehealth primary care service in rural areas
Te Whatu Ora are rolling out a new telehealth primary care service aimed at supporting rural health staff and improving access for patients living rurally.
Ka Ora Telecare, a partnership between Reach Aotearoa, Practice Plus and Emergency Consult, is partnering with general practices in rural areas to deliver the telehealth service. The aim is to support practices by creating extra capacity, including providing overnight support and taking on overflow patients during usual hours. The service should also help redirect patients from emergency departments outside of practice hours.
The service is subsidised by Te Whatu Ora, with free nurse consultations and co-payments for GP consultations.
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Financial advisers criticise FMA's withdrawn campaign
The Workforce Development Council puts together the working group involved in the NZCFS review
Southern Cross Health and Life insurance win gold at the Reader's Digest Quality Service Awards 2024
Suncorp New Zealand’s employees raise over $340,000 for charities
ANZ's economists lower their OCR forecast; no longer expect RBNZ to hike above 5.50% in February
RBNZ’s Household Expectations Survey finds kiwis expect inflation to fall slowly
Lifetime group acquires an advisory firm specialising in employee benefits
The Lifetime Group, a Christchurch-based, full-service financial advisory firm, has bought Protection Solutions, which specialises in employee benefits schemes.
The undisclosed transaction price includes cash and shares, with Grant Uridge and Thurl Gibbs of Protection Solutions both taking a 4.5% stake in Lifetime.
The merger expands Lifetime’s capabilities in personal and business insurance advice, with Protection Solutions currently having 13 group schemes on its books.
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The Adviser Platform (TAP) is offering a 50% discount for six months
AM Best will be holding its Insurance Market Briefing – Auckland on November 16
ASB receive the 2023 Make it Easy Award for their Easy English guides
FSC request members participate in their member satisfaction survey
ANZ named Canstar's 2023 Bank of the Year in the Agribusiness category
Covid-19 cases spike across the country, possible we are at the start of a new wave
Fidelity Life release financial results
Fidelity Life has released its annual report and financial results for the year ended 30 June 2023.
Fidelity Life has released its annual report and financial results for the year ended 30 June 2023. Highlights include:
· Insurance premium revenue of $450.4 million, up 33% from FY22
· Total comprehensive income (net of tax) of $3.2 million, an improvement from their FY22 loss of $24 million
· Underlying profit, excluding the impact of government bond rate changes (net of tax), of $19 million
· Claims paid out in FY23 $209.7 million, up 27% from FY22
· 304,867 customers
· Market share of 15.7%
Fidelity Life resumed payment of dividends, with Fidelity Life’s shareholders receiving a full-year dividend of $8.013 per share. The dividend is unimputed as the Group continues to utilise brought forward tax losses.
Fidelity Life Chair Brian Blake says
“We expected the benefits of our Westpac Life acquisition to start materialising in FY23, and that’s proven to be the case. Our performance shows the business is in good shape and proving resilient against a weak economy and the high cost of living.
…In response to adviser feedback, we’re introducing a raft of new initiatives spanning the digital, product and service spaces to make it easier for advisers to do business with us, focus on growth, and together take our respective businesses to the next level.”
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Deloitte Top 200 Business Awards finalists include staff from ANZ, ASB, The Co-operative Bank
ANZ Chief Marketing Officer Astrud Burgess named Effective Marketer of the Year at Effie Awards
Kiwibank received 6 awards, including the Grand Effie, at the 2023 Aotearoa Effie Awards
Ainsley McLaren talks about the investment needs and behaviours of women
CERT NZ create Own Your Online website, to raise understanding of cyber security issues
The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from 3.6% in the September quarter
Fraud Awareness Week is taking place November 13-18
Cancer patient advocates say health system reforms are taking too long
nib release their 2023 State of the Nation Parenting Survey
nib have released their 2023 State of the Nation Parenting Survey, which has found parental concern for children’s mental health has skyrocketed and shows just how severely the current cost of living crisis is affecting families. The survey canvassed the views of 1,206 parents, step-parents and guardians across NZ in June 2023.
Some of the key findings include:
46% of all parents say their biggest worry for their children is the future state of their mental health (up from 40% in 2022).
57% say they are worried about their children’s current mental health.
49% of parents say they are concerned about their child’s physical health (which increases to 59% of Māori parents).
Parents reported the top three physical health concerns impacting their children as sleeping problems (34%), behavioural issues like tantrums, problematic eating and bullying (28%) and diet and exercise (25%).
46% of parents have health insurance (up from 44% in 2022), with 64% having made a claim. Key reasons for taking up private health insurance were peace of mind (52%), quicker access to health services (48%) and confidence they can access health services (48%).
31% of parents are unable to access the support they need to address their child's health concerns.
The survey found that almost all kiwi parents were facing financial stress (93% of households).
49% of parents said financial uncertainty is the main source of household stress (up from 41% in 2022 and 35% in 2021).
66% of parents’ top concern for their kids’ future is cost of living.
19% of parents have gone without essentials such as petrol, heating or skipping meals over the last year.
Food choices are being impacted by increasing financial pressures, with 52% of parents saying they are eating less or differently; 23% keeping grocery spend the same but eating less; 51% eating less fresh vegetables; and 40% eating more processed foods.
Parents have said that increasing costs are negatively affecting their relationships and social lives with 31% reporting a negative impact on their relationship with their partner, 42% having their social lives and connection to friends negatively affected and 25% experiencing a negative impact on the amount of time spent with their children.
14% of families are choosing to delay having more children.
13% of families’ main caregiver is needing to return to work.
Nathan Wallis, nib’s resident parenting expert and neuroscience educator has some tips for families doing it tough right now.
“Parents are under increasing financial pressure and many feel like they don’t have the time, energy or resources to care for their kids and look after themselves but it’s really important that parents find ways to look after their own wellbeing”.
“It’s really important that parents look after their own mental and physical health so that they can show up for their kids. Proactively looking after your own health and wellbeing also has the added benefit of role modelling good behaviours to your kids. When parents role model healthy eating habits and exercise their kids tend to follow”.
“It might be as simple as coming together for a family meal or taking the kids for a walk or kick a ball around at the park. These healthy habits are great ways to bond with your kids and set them up for success”.
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Southern Cross Health Insurance launch Wayfinder Awards
Southern Cross Health Society is recruiting for a Communications Executive
Fidelity Life has two finalists in the NZ Women in Security Awards
AIA, ANZ, BNZ, Westpac have finalists at the NZ Law Awards
Financial Services Federation director wants to salvage something from CoFI preparations