The FSC have announced a number of webinars as part of the Financial Services Council's Connect programme to guide, support and educate the sector and consumers as we navigate through Covid-19.

FSC Connect Webinars have been curated across a range of topics reflecting issues we face, whether through the lens of working in the financial services sector or as a New Zealander today, living in our bubbles and adjusting to life in Alert Level 4.

The 30-minute 'Ted Talk' style sessions are designed to give you a break, join with your friends and colleagues and connect with our community. There will be an opportunity to ask questions during the session.

Click here to register for 'The COVID-19 Crisis: How the Financial Services Sector is responding with Rob Flannagan and Richard Klipin'

Click here to register for 'Insights from the Pandemic: How politics and media have responded'

Pinnacle Life Marketing Manager Kerry Vaughan spoke with Newshub to clarify life insurance. Kerry stated that it would be a good idea if people with financial obligations took out life insurance. In the interview Kerry provides three different examples of when life insurance is necessary.

1. You have dependents
2. You have a mortgage or other debt
3. You’re worried about what getting ill would mean for you financially

Similarly, Vaughan gave three examples of when life insurance isn’t necessary:

1. You have no dependents or debts
2. You’re very young 
3. You have out-lived your need for it

To the top list I would add the ideas that life insurance gives rapid payment compared to the sale of real property, and also if you expect that you might soon have one of those three reasons in the future. To the bottom list I would add that your assets have grown to the point where you have sufficient funds to meet your commitments and desires for your estate. 

Medical /Health Insurance pricing comparison database V79 has now been issued to subscribers. This version includes the following changes:

• Update Southern Cross rates effective 1/3/20
• Update nib rates effective 1/4/20
• Update Partners Life rates (including policy fee) effective 5/4/20

With Asteron Life team members working remotely it is business per usual. Clients looking to make claims will be offered the usual service and support. Asteron is working alongside providers to offer rehabilitation and assessment services via video conference. In regards to underwriting, Asteron will continue using their tele-interviewing service. If you are looking to book a time, you can do so through AsteronConnect. Although Asteron is closing applications for redundancy cover and restricting clients from increasing their existing benefits, they are supporting clients who have changing financial circumstances by offering:

Options under Lump Sum Covers

• Premium Holiday

• Premium freeze

• A mixture of stepped and level premiums

• Restructuring Trauma cover

Options under Disability Income Covers

• Premium and cover suspension  

Fidelity Life have announced that they will delay the launch of Sharecare slightly. Advisers will now be able to access the app on the 16th of April instead of the 6th. Customers will gain access in early June (date TBC). Learn more about Sharecare here.

Although Air New Zealand has  reduced the number of regional routes, limited domestic flights have been scheduled to run to enable essential service workers to travel as well as to keep air freight moving. As the payment of insurance claims is essential work then a few in the industry may need to travel. If that's you, Air New Zealand’s domestic schedule while the country is at Alert Level 4 is:

Auckland - Christchurch

3 x return services Monday - Friday

1 x return service Saturday/Sunday

Auckland - Wellington

1 x return service Monday - Sunday

Wellington - Christchurch

2 x return services Monday - Friday

1 x return service Saturday/Sunday

Wellington - Nelson

1 x return service Monday - Friday

Christchurch - Dunedin

1 x return service Monday

1 x return service Friday

click here to read more

This is a how to for registered companies and other entities to apply for their transitional licence. The following information was kindly provided to us by the Companies Office.

To begin, indicate your intention on the FSPR to apply for a transitional licence, to do so you will need:

1. a RealMe login, and
2. an online services account with the FSPR.
3. Additionally, you may also need to confirm your authority to update information if you are managing an FSP on its behalf.

Updating an existing registration on the FSPR

1. Log in to your online services account. You’ll be taken to your dashboard. Select ‘Search for an FSP’ under the ‘Do It Now’ menu.
2. Search for your company or entity either by its name or FSP number.
3. Select the relevant FSP company or entity from the search results list.
4. Once you have selected which FSP to update, open the ‘My Tools’ menu and select ‘Change Request to FSP (NZ Entity)’.
5. You’ll be taken to the change request screen. From here you can either:
6. select the ‘financial services’ tab at the top of the screen

or

1. or scroll down the page to the financial services list, select ‘Show’ and select ‘Change details’.
2. On the next screen you’ll see a list of all the financial services. The transitional licensing services are listed at the bottom, under the heading ‘Financial Advice Service’.

You have the option to select the services:

1. ‘Licensed Provider - transitional licence’

 or

1. ‘Authorised Body - transitional licence’.

An authorised body (in relation to the financial advice service) is an entity named on another entity’s financial advice provider’s licence to provide a licensed service. Authorised bodies are still considered to be financial advice providers, but do not hold their own licence. If you are intending for your company to operate as an authorised body, you must tick the grey box ‘Authorised Body – transitional licence’.

If you are intending for your company to hold a transitional licence, you must tick the grey box ‘Licensed Provider –transitional licence’.

7. Once you’ve selected the relevant transitional licence(s), you can either go straight to the ‘Review’ tab to complete your update, or you can review the rest of your registration by scrolling down to the bottom of the screen and selecting the 'Proceed to directors' button.
8. On the ‘Directors’ screen, you can check the information about the directors that you have already listed. If you are satisfied that the details are correct, or if you don’t need to add another director, select ‘Proceed to controlling owners’.
9. On the ‘Controlling owners’ screen you can check the information about controlling owners, if you have any listed, or add new ones. If you are satisfied that the details are correct, or if you don’t need to add a controlling owner, select ‘Proceed to senior managers’.
10. On the ‘Senior Managers’ screen you can check the information about senior managers, if you have any listed, or add new ones. Once you are happy with the information, or if you don’t want to add a controlling owner, select ‘Proceed to review’.
11. At this point you have an opportunity to review your details and check that the ‘Transitional Licensing Service’ you selected is visible. To complete the update to your FSP registration, select ‘Read and confirm the declaration here’.
12. Confirm and click ‘Continue’.
13. You’ll see an onscreen pop-up confirming your changes have been submitted. From here, click the link to go back to your dashboard, where you’ll see your application is ‘awaiting authorisation’.
14. You will be sent you an email confirming that you have updated your FSP registration. If you login to your dashboard, your will see ‘Awaiting LA authorisation’ next to your registration. This will remain until the licence comes into effect.

Next steps

Transitional licence

Licensed Provider 

Once you’ve received confirmation and selected the service ‘Licensed Provider - transitional licence’, you’ll need to visit the FMA website and apply for your licence.

You’ll need the FSP number of the company that you just registered on the FSPR. You can apply for your licence by clicking here.

Authorised Body 

Once you’ve received confirmation and selected the service ‘Authorised Body - transitional licence’, you’ll need to provide your company’s FSP number to the financial advice provider whose licence you will operate under. They’ll need this when naming you on their licence application to the FMA. You DO NOT need to apply to the FMA for a licence.

I hope that I get to emerge from this crisis able to moan about the financial effects, and grateful enough to know that it will be a privilege denied to those that died. The chances are I'll be fine, the financial effects will remain for quite some time. A recession, of course, and then recovery. Assuming we don't accept those calling for state intervention to be made permanent on a massive scale, then the world will work like it has, but be different. Different companies will be winners. Different ways of working more common. Different attitudes to health and well-being - can be hoped for. The Australian Financial Review worried about the cost, and they coined the phrase "taxation, inflation, or left to the next generation" to describe how it would be paid for: 

The article is well worth a read, but you will probably need a subscription to read it. 

David Farrar, writing at Kiwiblog gave us a back of the envelope forecast for cost: 

Let’s say we spend $50 billion just on the crisis period.

Now let’s look at last year’s accounts. Tax revenue of $87 billion. Let’s say tax revenues are down 15% or $13 billion. So income down $13 billion and the interest in the extra debt is likely to be $3 billion so even once this is over, may have a $16 billion structural deficit. Oh also add an extra $2.5 billion in unemployment benefits and you’re getting close to $20 billion.

Now if you run deficits of over $10 billion for say five years or more, then bang another $50 billion debt and so on.

I should underline, that I am glad of the measures taken by this government to limit the pandemic in New Zealand. I would not want a "trumpian" lurch between denial to reaction and maybe, back again. I also think it is fair to raise questions as to why we aren't investing more time and effort in the excellent contact tracking work that South Korea has done which has flattened their curve and kept them running without a lockdown. If we're happy to spend $12bn in four weeks you would think we could  publish maps of the movements of those who have had COVID-19 that we may have come into casual contact with. That would be a good start towards thinking about how we get out of the current situation and start work on our recovery. 

AIA have sent out an email to advisers explaining how they will be assisting customers facing financial hardship during the COVID-19 lockdown. Click here to read more on this as well as any potential impacts on commissions. 

Asteron Life have announced a number of webinars during the Level four restrictions period to keep advisers connected and up to date. The topics include, AsteronConnect, Trauma Cover, Why choose Asteron Life, and Adviser Portal campaign tips. Click here to register.

Dealing with complaints from dissatisfied clients is time consuming and strays you away from your business dealings. It is made worse if you do not keep written documents. Anand Srinivasan of Brisk Insurance recently spoke about his personal experience with disagreements about past discussions and decisions with clients. As Anand kept records, he was able to remind the clients of the agreements that they had reached with him by referring to his notes. As Anand notes, no one will remember what they said exactly after a couple of years.  

Click here to read more

In fact, it is being done, in South Korea. You can check out the now weird normality of a country which has successfully suppressed COVID-19 without shutting down at this link. It is well worth a read. 

Interesting to compare their figures to ours: at 9,876 cases in a population of 51 million SK has 0.019% infection rate. At today's date we have 708 cases in a population of 4.5 million for a 0.016% infection rate. Let's hope that our initial lockdown gives time for us to catch up to their levels of testing, tracking, and tracing - and then we can get back to something more like normality. 

This is the shape of the SK curve.

You can check out at this excellent dashboard by Johns Hopkin University and Medicine. Also see the post below on modelling the impacts of the virus. 

Fidelity Life have extended the registration period for Customer Engagement 2020. Advisers now have until 6 April 2020 to register to be in the running to attend a Thought Leaders forum in Te Anau in October.

Key points:

• Runs from 6 March – 31 July 2020
• Based on Net Promoter Score – a measure of customer satisfaction
• Top 30 advisers plus partners attend a special forum in Te Anau, 14-16 October 2020
• Advisers need to register by 6 April to participate

Click here to register

Overview of modelling done for government decision-making on the level four restrictions due to the pandemic can be found at the link below.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/03/31/1106913/new-modelling-shows-scale-of-covid-19-threat

Another report often quoted in the news can be found at this link.

https://www.tepunahamatatini.ac.nz/2020/03/26/suppression-and-mitigation-strategies-for-control-of-covid-19-in-new-zealand/

We think this is an important foundation for the discussion about modelling. Other data sources used in the development of our model, include:

• http://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/e53946e2-c6c4-41e9-9a9b-fea8db1a8f51
• https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf
• https://www.cdc.go.kr/board/board.es?mid=a30402000000&bid=0030&act=view&list_no=366633
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0822-7#MOESM1
• https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e2.htm

Based on the above, we have been working on a model for COVID-19 impacts on life insurance claims. We compared the outputs for our model with the approaches taken here and found sufficient accord that we are comfortable that our model is generating reasonable outputs. Subscribers to our quarterly life and health report will receive a copy of the model. 

If you aren't spending too much time queuing for groceries, yes you should. Now, more than ever, although the deadline pressure has been removed, you need that extra year. Not applying just recreates all that pressure later, when you could be pushing through that now. If you're unconvinced, drop me a line. 

Product scores for income protection products are under review. We need to consider how to take into account temporary measures being applied to contracts with some disablement components - IP, Trauma, and TPD - such as the recent restrictions being applied by Partners Life. In the meantime, you need to familiarise yourself with what those restrictions are and whether they apply to the cases you are submitting. We have a schedule of COVID-19 impacts available for subscribers in the quarterly life and health review, which will be issued today. 

nib have sent out a media release on how they are dealing with COVID-19. Including these options:

MEDIA RELEASE

nib New Zealand (nib) today announced a member support package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

nib Chief Executive Officer, Rob Hennin, said the health insurer had an important and critical role to play in helping Kiwis through this challenging period.

“With our country in lockdown many of our members confront profound uncertainty and the threat or reality of unemployment particularly. We are doing as much as we can to help them maintain their cover and more broadly, stay safe and healthy,” Mr Hennin said.

nib’s support package includes:

• Ability for eligible existing members who are experiencing financial hardship to access special premium relief*.
• Ability for eligible existing members who are experiencing financial hardship to suspend* their health insurance policy and premium payment for up to six months.
• Automatic increase of pre-approval validity to six months meaning members do not need to reapply for pre-approval if they experience delays to hospital treatment.
• Ability for existing members to increase their excess (payable upon hospital admission) to the maximum allowable level under their policy without needing to be re-underwritten if they choose to reduce their excess as their financial situation improves**.
• Expanded coverage* for chest, lung, kidney and bladder or other treatment related to conditions caused by COVID-19 across all levels of hospital cover (including Basic Private Hospital Cover, Mid Private Hospital Cover and Mid Private Hospital Cover Plus where currently excluded) at no additional cost.
• Cover for GP or specialist consultations that need to be conducted via video or tele-consultation due to COVID-19*.
• Our specialist health management and emergency assistance team, nibAssist, will be available 24/7 for members who require immediate COVID-19 medical and non-medical health support. 
• Help for members navigating COVID-19 by publishing across our various channels (including nib.co.nz) information on their cover, how to minimise infection risk and related matters.
• A $1 million donation from nib foundation and nib to support charitable initiatives assisting the community across New Zealand and Australia during the pandemic.
• Offering up to two weeks paid special discretionary leave for all nib Group employees (permanent, fixed-term or casual) who are impacted by COVID-19.

Members are encouraged to contact us to discuss available assistance.

*nib support package will be available for existing nib members (as at 31 March 2020) to access for initially a three month period, with this to be reviewed prior to 30 June 2020. Policy terms and conditions still apply. Members must have GP or specialist cover under their policy to apply for the relevant tele or video conference benefits.

**Members must apply for the excess reduction within six months of the end date of the Government mandated stay at home period

Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand’s report has found that New Zealanders are more likely to seek financial advice from family and friends at informal gatherings. People reported that their friends and family were the most trustworthy source, followed by accountants. The good news for financial advisers is that as people get older, they understand the value and importance of professional financial advice. Click here to read more

Here is the latest news from AIA in regards to keeping business operating and continued support to advisers:

Our workforce
To help protect our people and best support you, in line with Government direction, we will:

• reduce the number of people in our offices for essential services only, and
• transition the rest of our people to working from home.

Our service to you
As we transition our people to remote working, there may be impacts on our service levels and the way we provide services to you. We will work hard to minimise these impacts and we ask that you please support us by: 

• Limiting calls to our Contact Centre to urgent enquiries only by instead using one of the following alternative channels
• AIAHub
• Adviser Resources
• INSIGHT / SovLink
• Visiting our COVID-19 web page
• Contacting your BDM directly via their mobile or video call
• Reducing contact to our Claims team by limiting calls only for essential and urgent claims
• Delays may be experienced as we move our teams to work from home; we thank you for your patience while we transition our teams to work remotely as much as possible
• Using our eApp instead of paper or emailing through customer applications
• When you email a paper proposal to us, it requires multiple handovers between different teams. We expect that paper proposals, even those emailed, will take longer than usual to process.
• The eApp bypasses this issue and significantly speeds up the submission processes.
• Internal replacements from AIA Real and Sovereign TotalCare Max to AIA Living can take longer to complete than processing new applications submitted via eApp
• Wherever possible, please consider deferring like-for-like replacements to AIA Living

Our external providers
We are working closely with our service providers to ensure that we can continue to provide key services, including medical information.

For the safety of our Health Screen nurses and Claim Case Managers, all visits have moved to phone based. We are also working with our reinsurers to assess our ability to obtain medical information to support our underwriting and claims processes.

We are open for business
We remain open business and will do our best to support you to assist your existing customers and protect new customers seeking insurance.

We are continuing to monitor developments and at this stage there are no planned changes to our AIA Living product range.

As noted above, delays may be experienced as we move our teams to working from home and we thank you for your patience and support during this time.