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 on emerging risk insights
Swiss Re’s SONAR 2025: New emerging risk insights report identifies new or changed risks that could impact on insurers today and in the future.
Swiss Re’s SONAR 2025: New emerging risk insights report identifies new or changed risks that could impact on insurers today and in the future. The report highlights a range of emerging risks, with those most relevant to the life and health insurance sector being: declining consumer trust in institutions and the insurance industry; elevated levels of excess mortality; aging populations; extreme heat events; fungi-adaptations; harm caused by plastics; new technologies in healthcare delivery; rising consumption of ultra-processed foods; workforce gaps and skillset shortages. It’s an interesting read - we’ve picked out some things we think are particularly relevant to the New Zealand market.
With aging populations, fewer and later family formations could lead to less events (such as the birth of a child) that typically spur life insurance purchases.
While NZ is not subject to such extremes of temperature as in other parts of the world, a recent study estimated that 500 children under five are hospitalised for heat-related reasons each year in NZ . Currently 14 heat-related deaths occur in Auckland’s over-65 population annually – with climate change increasing the number of days exceeding 25C, we can expect the number of people dying from heat-related deaths to increase correspondingly.
With fungi adapting to warmer temperatures and the overuse of fungicides leading to more multi-drug-resistant fungal pathogens, there could be an increase in fungal infections and limited medical treatment options for those with fungal infections.
The potential health effects from micro- and nano-plastics and their additives are still being studied, but there is growing research on the negative impacts of plastics on human health.
Swiss Re highlight that innovations like GLP-1 weight-loss medications and the increasing uptake of these drugs should help reduce mortality in the future. Semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic) was approved for weight-loss use in New Zealand by Medsafe last month, though it is not Pharmac-funded.
The increasing availability and variety of AI and virtual health services should lead to healthier populations over time, by enabling early detection and preventative interventions. Personalised health monitoring and nudges towards healthier behaviour (a la AIA’s vitality product) will potentially reduce claim frequencies and lead to longer healthspans. Conversely, the digitalisation of medical records and other previously private health information, comes with greater data security and privacy risks.
Research has shown associations between high consumption of ultra-processed foods and elevated health risks, including obesity, type-2 diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
An aging workforce will contribute to labour and skillset shortages in the healthcare field, which could lead to delays in medical treatment, under-diagnosis and sub-standard levels of care – leading to an increase in morbidity and mortality. Healthcare worker shortages have been in the news regularly in NZ and The Royal NZ College of General Practitioner’s 2022 workforce survey found 64% of specialist GP’s were intending to retire by 2032.
More news:
Fidelity Life roll out this year’s annual product re-accreditation
Financial Advice NZ community of Practice: Central District 17 July
Scheme of Arrangement between Foundation Life and policyholders approved
Russell Hutchinson writes of how insurers could improve awareness
Australian advisers change fee structure, higher revenue and profit
Legal and regulatory update for the life and health insurance sector
APRA consult on minor proposals related to the Banking Act; raft of changes coming to ACC; NZ Police run free goAML training sessions; ASIC Commissioner speaks on regulatory priorities in financial advice; FMA release The Financial Conduct Report; FMA release new podcast; RBNZ snapshot compares how banks are working to remove unnecessary barriers to Māori Access to Capital; RBNZ modelling of risk scenarios under the CCCFA; FMA cancel Filcare Services Limited’s Financial Advice Provider licence.
18 Jun 2025 - APRA has released for consultation a set of minor proposals for instruments relating to section 66 of the Banking Act 1959 (the Banking Act). https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-consults-on-proposals-for-instruments-relating-to-section-66-of-banking
18 Jun 2025 - Changes coming to modernise ACC regulations, including twelve new additions to ACC’s list of occupational diseases; reimbursement rates increasing for claimants having their ACC decisions reviewed, and for those needing to travel to access ACC covered treatment; the age scale used to assess hearing loss for ACC cover is being updated to align with current international standards. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/changes-coming-to-modernise-acc-regulations
19 Jun 2025 - The NZ Police Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is running free goAML training sessions in Auckland and Christchurch across July. https://www.dia.govt.nz/AML-CFT-Free-goAML-training-in-Auckland-and-Christchurch-this-July-2025
23 Jun 2025 - ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland spoke at the Professional Planner Licensee Summit on regulatory priorities in financial advice. https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/speeches/regulatory-priorities-in-financial-advice/
25 Jun 2025 - The FMA have released The Financial Conduct Report, which will be an annual publication for the financial industry that sets out the FMA's priorities and the drivers behind what they are doing. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/reports-and-papers/financial-conduct-report/
25 Jun 2025 - The FMA have released episode #14 of ‘5 mins with the FMA’ Podcast - Financial Conduct Report. https://www.fma.govt.nz/library/podcast/5-mins-with-the-fma-podcast-14-financial-conduct-report/
26 Jun 2025 - RBNZ has published a primarily qualitative snapshot that offers a comparison of how banks are working to remove unnecessary barriers to Māori Access to Capital. https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/2025/06/snapshot-highlights-banks-efforts-to-reduce-unnecessary-barriers-for-maori
26 Jun 2025 - A ministerial briefing summarising RBNZ modelling outlines three risk scenarios for banks’ ability to meet capital requirements under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA). https://www.mpamag.com/nz/news/general/129bn-lending-law-risk-threatens-nz-financial-system-rbnz/540506
26 Jun 2025 - The FMA has cancelled Filcare Services Limited’s (Filcare) Financial Advice Provider licence, at its request. Filcare held a full financial advice provider licence, providing financial advice to approximately 1,800 retail clients, many of whom were migrant workers from the Filipino community. Filcare’s cancellation follows the termination of its distribution agreement with Fidelity Life Assurance Company Limited and AIA New Zealand Limited, and the FMA's subsequent inquiry into its affairs. https://www.fma.govt.nz/news/all-releases/media-releases/fma-cancels-filcare-licence/