
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.
New Head of Strategic Accounts at AIA
AIA has appointed Jonathan Beale as Head of Strategic Accounts, a newly established role within its Distribution leadership team.
AIA has appointed Jonathan Beale as Head of Strategic Accounts, a newly established role within its Distribution leadership team. Beale will lead the Strategic Accounts channel, driving innovation, growth and alignment with AIA’s broader distribution strategy.
Angela Busby, AIA NZ Chief Distribution Officer, said
“Jonathan’s appointment reflects our commitment to advisers and to the growth and value of our strategic partnerships. I’m confident that Jonathan’s proven track record and innovative mindset will make him a fantastic addition to the team.”
Jonathan Beale, Head of Strategic Accounts
Fidelity Life welcomes record number of advisers to Career Connect programme
Fidelity Life has announced the fourth intake of its adviser programme, Career connect, for new advisers and the recipients of their eight scholarships.
Fidelity Life has announced the fourth intake of its adviser programme, Career connect, for new advisers. This year sees the programme expand to welcome its largest cohort to date - 30 emerging advisers. The company will also soon invite adviser businesses to join the Career connect registry; to signal their interest in offering work experience opportunities to newly qualified financial advisers.
Submissions this year attracted greater diversity, , with 56% of applicants under the age of 35, 62% coming from female applicants and just under 30 ethnicities represented across the more than 70 applicants.
The Career connect programme awarded eight scholarships this year, up from seven last year, with each valued at up to $5,000. The recipients of the 2025 Career connect scholarships are:
Grace Leaso, Auckland - Kōwhai scholarship (for an outstanding Pasifika applicant)
Grace Shearer, Hastings - Toe Toe scholarship (for an outstanding young applicant aged 21-25)
Jada Mandery, Auckland - Women in Finance scholarship (supported by Kaplan Professional)
Marcel Stenning, Auckland - Pāua scholarship (for outstanding applicant demonstrating excellence)
Michelle Andrews, Auckland - Women in Finance scholarship (supported by Kaplan Professional)
Milly Elworthy, Mosgiel – Rural scholarship (supported by FMG)
Olivera Vasic-Wooller, Auckland - Rāngi Po scholarship (for an underrepresented community in financial services)
TK Buchanan, Christchurch - Pounamu scholarship (for an outstanding Māori applicant)
Fidelity Life Head of Solutions Michelle Doyle said
“By taking part, advice businesses play a vital role in mentoring fresh talent… It helps new advisers gain industry experience and build confidence as they transition into the profession.”
The 2025 cohort of 30 will start their journey this week. Over the next six months, they’ll take on part-time study to earn their Level 5 qualification through Kaplan Professional. Fidelity Life will host a graduation ceremony early next year to celebrate their accomplishments.
More news:
Financial Advice NZ Community of Practice: Christchurch 12 June
Introduction to Quotemonster webinar 9am, 27 May
Demystifying Advicemonster webinar 11am, 27 May
Business Risk Research and SOAs with Quotemonster webinar 12pm 29 May
Introduction to Kiwimonster webinar 12pm 26 May
Katrina Shanks and Kris Faafoi recognised on the Hot List 2025
Link Financial Group NZ appoints Anton Wicken new compliance manager
The banking industry welcomes the first reading of CCCFA amendment bill
New Zealanders will soon be able to receive 12-month prescriptions for their medicines
AIA announce four new national sales manager appointments
AIA has made four new appointments within their Distribution team.
Aaron Gilmore has been appointed National Sales Manager, Retail. Gilmore has been with AIA since 2023 and has been an AIA Vitality Coach and Northern Region Manger, Business Development.
Carley Ellis has been appointed National Sales Manager, Aligned Advice. Ellis has 20 years of experience in New Zealand’s financial services industry and has a proven track record in business development, financial advice, and leadership.
Sarah Hepper has been appointed National Sales Manager, Corporate Solutions. Hepper has over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, and has spent the past 15 years contributing to the growth of Corporate Solutions at AIA NZ
Nick Russell has been appointed as National Sales Manager, Home Loans. Russell has extensive experience working alongside home loan advisers.
More news:
AIA Trauma Buy-back Enhancement
nib's Amanda Savill unpacks changes in how advisers support their clients
Government announces changes to KiwiSaver
The FSC welcomes decision to increase default KiwiSaver contribution rate
Financial Advice NZ webinar 'Data-Informed Decisions for Private Health Insurance' 28 May
FSC Investment and KiwiSaver Committee meeting on 3 June
Michelle Russell and Tim Horgan step into permanent leadership roles at ANZ
Southern Cross Health Trust funds starter pack for nursing students
Medical premiums keep on rising – Jon-Paul Hale takes a look at why
Jon-Paul Hale has taken a look at the pressures that have resulted in sharp increases in medical premiums this year.
Jon-Paul Hale has taken a look at the pressures that have resulted in sharp increases in medical premiums this year. From more claims leading to additional people and resources needing to be hired by insurance companies to the flight of clinicians overseas and training on new technologies and tools, there seems to be a perfect storm leading to the hikes. Hale compares premiums in NZ to those in Australia, and despite the recent increases, we’re still looking affordable in comparison. Hale also ponders what would help stabilise premiums, giving a few examples. It mostly comes down to spreading the cost across a wider pool of people. A good article, one we’d recommend you check out.
More news:
Chubb Life's Essential Underwriting Guide is now available
nib produce Warrant of Wellness guide
Nominations open for Chubb Life Support Person of the Year award
mySolutions webinar 'Leo Moloney-Geany from Minitech - using AI in your business' 28 May
Apex Advice announce a new partnership with the Evidential KiwiSaver Scheme
Financial Advice NZ's Community of Practice: Hamilton event is on 2 July
Westpac announce they won't charge fintechs for standard API calls
FinTechNZ roundtable 'Digital payments for all: Exploring innovative solutions to improve access to basic transaction services' 3 June
Best product, no. Best solution, yes!
Steve Wright questions what makes the best product in his latest article on Good Returns.
We are in enthusiastic agreement with Steve Wright’s recent article, in which he questions what makes the best product in his latest article on Good Returns. Steve advocates that the FMA and Disputes Resolution Service need to debunk the view of advisers that they sell only the ‘best’ product as rated by independent services.
As a research business, we are happy to debunk the notion that we tell people what to sell, or ‘rank’ products. We go to great pains to point out that this is not our job, we understand that our role is to provide useful information about the meaningful differences between products to enable advisers to have better conversations about suitability. We will never tell you what product to recommend because only financial advisers can give financial advice. To quote directly from a slide from our recent roadshow:
We also highlighted the importance of recognising the financial adviser’s unique role in the process of reconciling objectives with options and choices and limitations to arrive at a good solution, which is nearly always a compromise, unique to the client. That’s the essence of suitability assessment, entirely within the financial adviser’s legally defined role. If you haven’t heard us talk through the leading car purchase example, join us at a training session coming soon!
Like Steve, we believe that the best product is the one that suits the specific clients’ needs – even if it’s not the most generous, or the highest rated. He stresses that advisers must thoroughly understand a client’s individual circumstances, risks, and goals to come up with the most suitable product, then give enough detail that the clients can understand the advice and the products recommended.
What are some examples you’ve come across of products that at first look may not be the ‘best’, but actually have been the best fit for your clients?
If you have missed some of the comments on Steve’s article, we particularly like these:
“Advisers must give financial advice that I'd suitable… suitability has a lot more to do with the client circumstances than stars”
“In short, I don’t believe that we should be looking for who’s the “best.” I believe we should be looking for the “best fit.” And that’s a very different thing!”
“It's a good discussion point, but if you want a more realistic glimpse of what is likely to happen here in the future, speak to those involved in the Australian market about the removal of the 'safe harbour' provision in their financial advice regulation. Not only is it likely that product research into features and benefits likely to become more necessary, not less, but it also seems more and more likely that the actual underwriting terms offered across the entire market will need to be considered.”
More news:
Financial Advice NZ upcoming webinars and workshops - Data Informed Decisions & Demonstrating Suitability of Advice for Private Health Insurance 28 May, Navigating the Complexities of a Blended Family 11 June, Ethics Workshop 12 June, Understanding Portfolio Investment Entities (PIE’s) 25 June, Tackling the Tough Questions 25 June
Apex Advice partners with Pathfinder to expand ethical KiwiSaver investment options
The Co-operative Bank comes top in customer satisfaction survey
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
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
Proposed changes to Health and Safety Laws
We take a look at the proposed changes to Health and Safety laws, whereby the government wants to reduce compliance costs and provide greater certainty for businesses.
You may have seen the proposed changes to Health and Safety laws, whereby the government wants to reduce compliance costs and provide greater certainty for businesses. Bell Gully have a good summation of the proposed reforms here, but basically the Government is endeavouring to reduce the compliance burden, clarify health and safety duties (including limiting obligations for small, low-risk businesses) and clarify the distinction between governance and operational health and safety responsibilities.
There are many opposing points of view on the changes. Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff has said
"It's disappointing to see the minister has ignored the widespread consensus on what New Zealand needs to do to improve its poor track record and instead has chosen to carve out small businesses from good health and safety practices.
Exempting small businesses from best practice health and safety makes no sense when we know that small business are riskier and need more support."
Institute of Directors general manager Guy Beatson said
"Clarifying that boards are accountable for risk management and safety culture - not hands-on management - will mean directors can better focus on their core governance role without inadvertently overstepping."
Mike Cosman, chair of the Institute of Safety Management said
"The reforms are focused instead on costs to businesses of prevention and not the much greater costs of harm.
This seems to be looking through the wrong end of the telescope to us because the cost of our poor health and safety record is north of $4.9 billion per year to say nothing of the impact on workers and their families."
Russell Hutchinson has taken a look at the proposed regulations and put in his two cents.
As a country we have a not-terrible, but not-so-good track record on health and safety. One measure is fatal accidents, here I have selected countries we often use in comparisons:
Clearly, we are not as bad as, say, the United States. If we delved into that we would see significant variation on a state-by-state basis – but let’s not worry about that for now. Compared to Australia, for roughly every three people who die in a workplace accident there, four will die here. Not so good. What’s surprising is how well the UK performs – better than France and much of the EU, and better than Japan, places I normally consider to be better organised and more prescriptive in terms of employee protections. Not so! I like it when we find good data which challenges my pre-existing view. It’s a reward for paying attention to the data.
Are the proposed changes to governance liability right or wrong? One argument could be that by reducing liability on directors the workplace will become less safe. Another view is that by ensuring we place responsibility on the people who are closest to the problem we will better target the point at which better decisions can be made. Probably we will not know which until we have seen this operate for some time. Progress always seems to be so slow. Incentives also count – and the role of ACC, which has many benefits to our economy, also has some negative effects, somewhat masking the price signal in this case. I wonder if that will also get talked about.
More news:
Russell Hutchinson explains Non-Pharmac medicines coverage
AIA introducing a new excess option to AIA Private Health
AIA have updated Rules to Reinstate Policies
FSC Workplace Savings Half-Yearly Function 2025 is on 21 May
Financial Advice NZ are holding a 'Community of Practice: Central District' on 29 April
How to reduce chronic inflammation in your body
Eating well and getting regular exercise are most effective longevity tactics
Report finds deposit insurance scheme could see deposit interest rates fall significantly
Commerce Commission puts banks’ clawbacks, conversions and disincentives under scrutiny
nib research finds more adults are staying on top of essential health screenings
Recent nib research has found that more adults are staying on top of essential health screenings, but costs remain a barrier.
Recent nib research has found that more adults are staying on top of essential health screenings, but costs remain a barrier. The research was carried out in February 2025 and surveyed 1,010 Kiwi, building on the last survey conducted in December 2023. Some of the key findings include:
An increasing number of adults are keeping up with necessary health screenings - up to date with eye checks (45% up from 43%), dental check-ups (36% up from 35%), and heart health screenings (31% up from 28%).
30% believe their health is better than their peers, up from 25% in 2023.
Financial concerns are increasingly preventing Kiwi adults from accessing health checks, with 36% citing cost as a barrier (up from 29%).
80% of those with health insurance are committed to health screening checks (vs 72% overall).
More parents feel clear about which screening checks their children need (72% up from 58% in 2023).
More parents believe an annual health check is essential for their children (84% up from 75% in 2023).
More children are staying up to date with common screening tests - hearing checks (54% up from 48%), dental check-ups (66% up from 55%), eye checks (57% up from 50%) and general health exams (59% up from 57%).
Rob Hennin, Chief Executive Officer at nib New Zealand, said
“Proactive health screenings can be lifesaving and it’s really encouraging to see that Kiwi are taking the reins when it comes to their wellbeing. It’s clear to see that accessibility and cost issues continue to be barriers.”
More news:
Jason Gunn announced as new AIA Vitality Ambassador
Gallagher introduce new fundraising initiative, Gallagher Club Kickback
Partners Life go live with “no signature required” for majority of policy administration processes
mySolutions roadshows run across May in Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland
mySolutions webinar 'Exclusive Small Business Group Health' is on 23 April
Financial Advice NZ are holding an Ethics Workshop on 8 May
TAP webinar 'Ready to see TAP in action?' 8 May
Westpac launches a pilot for a basic transactional bank account
Naomi Ballantyne honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award
Naomi Ballantyne, chair of The Adviser Platform, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Financial Advice New Zealand Conference.
Naomi Ballantyne, chair of The Adviser Platform (TAP), was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Financial Advice New Zealand (FANZ) Conference.
“Her commitment to making financial advice accessible to more New Zealanders is evident in her continued efforts towards driving the importance of advice and innovation…Her tireless advocacy for the importance of financial advice is sure to inspire the new generation of advisers, leaders and entrepreneurs to walk in the path she has carved.”
Naomi’s career in the life insurance industry spans more than 40 years and includes founding two insurance companies, advocating for making financial advice more accessible for all New Zealanders, and spearheading initiatives aimed at supporting advisers through technology-driven solutions.
At TAP, Naomi has worked on embedding fintech solutions to streamline compliance and administrative processes, freeing up members to have more time to focus on clients; shares her invaluable expertise through TAP’s Insider Insights series; leads initiatives designed to empower and inspire female advisers; and is a regular presence at TAP events and conferences.
Ballantyne will lead TAPs inaugural Women in Advice event being held in July in Auckland, a full day event to empower, connect, and inspire female advisers and staff within the TAP community.
More news:
Swiss Re to exit Australia life market, Hannover Life Re to take over portfolio
Medicines Amendment Bill passes first reading
WellSouth encourages NZers to include Advanced Care Plans in their personal planning portfolios