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.
Nominations for the FSC industry awards open
The Financial Services Council (FSC) has opened entries for their 2025 Awards programme, including two new award categories.
The Financial Services Council (FSC) has opened entries for their 2025 Awards programme. The awards will be presented at the FSC Awards Dinner on 11 September 2025, at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland, as part of the FSC25 Conference. Entries are open to individuals, teams and organisations, with nominations closing 29 June 2025.
There are two new award categories this year.
New: Innovation of the Year
New: Excellence in ESG
Emerging Trailblazer: sponsored by Swiss Re
Excellence in Wellbeing and Inclusion: sponsored by Swiss Re
Contribution to Community
Team of the Year
Workplace Savings
Chair's Award for Service to the Industry
More news:
mySolutions webinar 'Getting more of the 'right kind' of referrals' is on 14 May
Investment News NZ produce ‘Welcome to FAP-land’ report
Jon-Paul Hale talks about how service commissions could be structured
Gen Z expect the same digital experience with life insurers as they have with banks
MAS announce appointment of new CEO
Jo McCauley has been appointed new Chief Executive Officer of MAS, starting 4 August 2025.
Jo McCauley has been appointed new Chief Executive Officer of MAS, starting 4 August 2025. McCauley is currently CEO of Southern Cross Travel Insurance, and she has a general insurance and consumer finance background, having led marketing, sales and product teams.
MAS Chair Brett Sutton said
“Jo brings a rare combination of leadership experience, commercial insight and strong people skills. We are excited to work with Jo as we build on a strong FY25 result and invest further in technology and service enhancements for our Members”.
More news:
AIA Group’s operating profit after tax reached $6.61 billion for 2024
Arthur J. Gallagher acquires First Capital Financial Services and First Capital Wealth Management
Gail Costa thanks advisers in her farewell message
Financial Advice NZ Special General Meeting 2025 is on 19 May in Auckland
Banking Reform Coalition wants ComCom to prosecute big four banks
AMP are looking for a Senior Application Analyst
IBANZ chief executive Mel Gorham will step down on June 26
BNZ offer relief for customers affected by recent severe weather events
ASB offer tailored emergency relief to customers affected by severe weather
Westpac's net profit after tax for the six months to March 31 was $565 million
Paddy Gower calls for Health Minister to better fund paediatric palliative care
FSC release Financial Resilience Index 2025
The Financial Services Council (FSC) have released their latest Financial Resilience Index 2025. Results find that Kiwi are still feeling the financial pinch.
The Financial Services Council (FSC) have released their latest Financial Resilience Index 2025. Results find that Kiwi are still feeling the financial pinch.
Key findings include:
55% of New Zealanders worry about money daily or weekly
Job security is more of a concern, with 80% of respondents feel secure in their current roles, down from 85% in 2024 and 89% in 2023
Only 44% feel financially prepared for retirement, down from 50% in 2024. 20% feel not at all prepared.
Concerns around inflation, housing prices and interest rates have eased slightly across the board
KiwiSaver remains the top investment New Zealanders have, with 81% of Kiwis enrolled. The next most common investments are cash, including term deposits (40%), NZ shares (23%) and managed funds (17%)
Only 44% feel financially prepared for retirement (down 6%)
Self-reported financial literacy continues its downward trend, with only 43% of respondents considering themselves financially literate
More news:
ICNZ publish their annual report for 2024
New research shows 75% of Kiwi want their money invested according to their values
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
The FMA release #4 of Jess Learns to Invest podcast; FMA announce the six fintech firms will be taking part in the pilot regulatory sandbox; first edition of FMA Financial Advisers Update released; FMA publish a Consumer Confidence Factsheet; FMA release ‘5 mins with the FMA’ podcast #13; Office of the Privacy Commissioner seeks feedback on Privacy Amendment Bill (IPP3A) draft guidance; RBNZ research investigates why the ‘natural interest rate’ has fallen in NZ.
29 Apr 2025 - The FMA release Jess Learns to Invest Episode 4 | Market Volatility and Your Investments with Brad Olsen. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/podcast/jess-learns-to-invest-episode-4/
29 Apr 2025 - The FMA has announced the six fintech firms who will be testing their innovative products, services or business models in the FMA’s pilot regulatory sandbox.
The successful fintech firms are:
• ECDD Holdings Limited - part of the exchange service Easy Crypto) intends to launch a yield bearing NZD-backed stablecoin and to generate revenue from interest earned on money held on trust in interest-bearing accounts.
• Emerge Group Limited - intending on offering a digital-first business banking alternative for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
• Homeshare - which appears to be an investment company aiming to assist period with home sharing schemes.
• IndigiShare - with aims to offer a koha-loan platform designed to break down barriers to entry for indigenous businesses and provide funding for Māori entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs, especially those with a strong social impact
• Invest in Farming Co-op - with intention to offer individuals a way to invest in agricultural businesses directly from their smartphones.
• Tandym Limited - currently offers full-service solutions for recruitment and workforce development and management, connecting businesses with top talent, we are unsure what their interest in financial services.
https://www.fma.govt.nz/news/all-releases/media-releases/fintech-sandbox-participants/
29 Apr 2025 - The FMA has published the first edition of FMA Financial Advisers Update. https://createsend.com/t/r-B06F256588858C182540EF23F30FEDED
29 Apr 2025 - The FMA have published a Consumer Confidence Factsheet. The results of the Consumer Confidence Survey indicate that that Māori and women are less likely like to feel confident in NZ's financial markets, and less likely to feel confident our financial markets are effectively regulated. The results indicate that Māori and women are less likely like to have health or life Insurance, but Māori are more likely to have funeral Insurance. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/research/consumer-confidence-factsheet-2025/
29 Apr 2025 - The FMA release ‘5 mins with the FMA’ podcast #13: Consumer Confidence Survey. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/podcast/5-mins-with-the-fma-podcast-13/
30 Apr 2025 - The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is asking for feedback on Privacy Amendment Bill (IPP3A) draft guidance. Feedback can be submitted between 30 April - 25 June 2025. https://www.privacy.org.nz/news/haveyoursay/
1 May 2025 - The RBNZ has released research which investigates why the ‘natural interest rate’ has fallen in New Zealand over recent decades. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2025/05/research-investigates-why-the-natural-interest-rate-has-fallen-in-new-zealand-over-recent-decades
Partners Life announce new Chief People Officer
Partners Life has announced that Helen Meade has been appointed as their new Chief People Officer, effective April 2025.
Partners Life has announced that Helen Meade has been appointed as their new Chief People Officer, effective April 2025. Most recently Meade was Chief People Officer at Les Mills International and she has over 20 years’ experience in human resources, transformation and communications, having worked in the insurance, wellness/health, technology and FMCG sectors.
Partners Life CEO Michael Weston said
“I'm delighted about Helen joining our executive team. She's a dynamic leader with a proven track record of attracting, developing and retaining great people and teams – who are our most important asset and competitive advantage.”
More news:
Banking Ombudsman Service cases up 3% more than the previous quarter
ICNZ finds 20% had switched insurance providers in the last two years
Bigger not necessarily best when it comes to KiwiSaver
Big banks, with their brand recognition and big budgets, have long been an almost default choice for people deciding who to invest their KiwiSaver funds with. That looks like it’s starting to change.
Consumer NZ has taken a look at how KiwiSaver is going. Big banks, with their brand recognition and big budgets, have long been an almost default choice for people deciding who to invest their KiwiSaver funds with. That looks like it’s starting to change. Encouragingly, 29% of new members chose their KiwiSaver scheme independently, and 8% consulted a financial adviser about what their best option would be, though 14% were automatically allocated a default scheme. There is still some reluctance to change providers, with 12% of people feeling it’s too much hassle to change provider, 8% having thought about switching but haven’t gotten around to it and 5% not knowing where to start.
With more than 3.3 million members and more than $111 billion of total funds under management, it’s worth putting in a little effort to see which fund best suits your situation.
While banks in general are big spenders on advertising, ANZ outspends them all. Yet ANZ’s KiwiSaver returns are underwhelming, coming in last (12th) for its management of conservative KiwiSaver funds, 6th (out of 12) for moderate funds, second to last (out of 15) for balanced funds and 10th (out of 12) for growth funds, according to Morningstar’s December 2024 results. Yet ANZ holds the largest share of the KiwiSaver market, with $21.9 billion funds under management.
As of 2021, ANZ and ASB are no longer default KiwiSaver providers, leaving BT Funds (Westpac) and BNZ as the only default big bank providers for new members. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the various banks’ KiwiSaver market share over the next decade or two.
In good news, Consumers NZ’s annual survey on KiwiSaver satisfaction highlights growing satisfaction, with February 2025 results showing 82% were satisfied with their provider.
And what do people most want from their KiwiSaver provider? Good returns with responsible investments came out top (42%), followed by the best returns (37%) and investing responsibly, even if it comes with slightly lower returns (14%)
More news:
Southern Cross Health Society using Patient Feedback to celebrate surgeons
Shaun Phelan is retiring from his role as National Manager of MAS Business Advisory Services
AML Summit 2025 is on 8 - 9 May in Auckland and livestreamed
Concerns and scepticism about AI
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly being rolled out globally, concerns remain around privacy, cybersecurity and accuracy and reliability of outputs.
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly being rolled out globally, concerns remain around privacy, cybersecurity and accuracy and reliability of outputs.
A survey by the Financial Planning Standards Board of more than 6,000 individual practitioners in finance found that 54% of respondents were either already using or piloting AI in their business (with a further 10% planning to rollout AI in the next 12 months). Respondents believe likely uses of AI will include collecting client information, analysing data and developing recommendations. Yet almost half worried about data privacy and cybersecurity and 42% worried about accuracy and reliability of outputs.
GlobalData’s 2024 Emerging Trends Insurance Consumer Survey, which polled more than 5,500 people across 11 countries, found consumers believed AI could have some benefits. Perceived benefits using AI included shortened time required to reach a customer service representative (73.8%), gains in operational performance (71.5%) and better pattern recognition than humans (71.2%). Those who have engaged with AI insurance chatbots were impressed, with 74.5% reporting being satisfied or very satisfied with the interaction. Despite these beliefs, consumers were found to have data privacy concerns and trust issues.
GlobalData’s 2024 Emerging Trends Insurance Consumer Survey (Q3), found that 39% of respondents would be quite or very comfortable having an AI tool decide the outcome of their insurance claim.
More news:
Fidelity Life held first adviser council meeting of the year
Tony Vidler writes about the importance of a prospecting system
NZUAC Christchurch Expo is on 7 May
Apex Advice are looking for a Head of Marketing and Communications
mySolutions webinar 'The journey of building a multi discipline practice' is on 30 April
Code of Banking Practice updated with new commitments to better protect customers against scams
Privacy Week 2025 is coming up
Privacy week runs from 12 - 16 May, and features a range of free webinars that promote privacy awareness.
Privacy Week 2025 runs from 12 – 16 May, with this year’s theme being Privacy on Purpose. You can register for a range of free webinars which span the gamut from AI and Privacy to Māori data privacy.
The timetable of webinars is below.
More news:
Partners Life webinar 'FMA monitoring visit, getting ready to be ready' 8 May
Fidelity Life update Working together guide
FSC members can attend a FMA Special Interest Group Networking Event 7 May
Financial Advice NZ webinar 'Making a Difference: Stories of Impact and Innovation' 30 April
Fintech Festival is on 30 April 2025
Digital Trust Hui Taumata is on 12 August
New Zealand’s annual inflation rose slightly to 2.5% in the March quarter
Premium comparison v126 - a massive update!
On Friday we uploaded the V126 Premium Comparison database to all subscribers. This was a massive update with just under 217,000 price points updated and 145,000 new price points added! A summary of the changes is below:
Changes in V126
- Updated Fidelity Life all rate-for-age rates effective 1/4/25
- Added new nib Adviser Ultimate Life and Living range effective 2/4/25
- Updated AIA Policy Fee to $7.80 Effective 1/1/25
- Updated Pinnacle Life and Trauma rates effective 19/11/24 and added Pinnacle Life TPD rates
When you get the database we recommend you open it and check out the recent changes notes and reports.
AIA introduce new $10,000 excess option
AIA has introduced a new $10,000 excess option for Private Health, making it live on 17 April. It will be live on Quotemonster at the end of next week, joining the range of $10,000 excess options already available. It’s a valuable tool to help manage costs for a client group that can typically manage a bill of $10,000 provided the insurer can stump up with the balance. With medical inflation running hot, this is a helpful additional option to offer clients struggling to afford retaining their cover as they age. Link: Policy Wordings and Enhancements Information