Chief financial officer Sean Kam said that the secret to Partners Life’s success is its efficiency. Kam has said that Partners is 58% more efficient than competitors. This has been credited to the use of best technology, cloud-based solutions and not having legacy systems in place. Managing Director Naomi Ballantyne noted that Partners has a better lapse rate than competitors and that it is currently getting the largest share of all adviser new business. Ballantyne also provided insights into what Partners Life has achieved in the past decade by noting:

• Partners has paid $692 million in claims since inception
• It now insures 215,000 lives
• 2208 advisers support the company
• It has trained 1250 advisers
• Annual premium income sits at $389 million
• Partners has implemented 232 individual product upgrades
• Partners is ranked second in the market for in-force business
• The company has raised $450 million of capital in 10 years
• Its current appraisal value is $1.3 billion

“Managing director Naomi Ballantyne says people should think of Partners as a “technology company in the business of insurance.”

She says Partners will “never allow legacy to impact our business.”

Chief financial officer Sean Kam says the "secret sauce" to Partners' success is its efficiency. Based on publicly available data he says Partners is 58% more efficient than its competitors because it uses the best technology, cloud-based solutions and has not legacy systems.

"We have an absolute laser focus on not allowing legacy into our business."

Its technology means the company "can do more with less people".

He believes Partners has an "unbeatable competitive new advantage."

The firm celebrated its 10th birthday with an event for advisers recently.

Ballantyne says in its first decade the company has:

·       Paid $692 million in claims since inception

·       It now insures 215,000 lives

·       2208 advisers support the company

·       It has trained 1250 advisers

·       Annual premium income sits at $389 million

·       Partners has implemented 232 individual product upgrades

·       Partners is ranked second in the market for in-force business

·       The company has raised $450 million of capital in 10 years

·       Its current appraisal value is $1.3 billion

Ballantyne says Partners has a better lapse rate than its competitors. According to Financial Services Council numbers the average lapse rate across the industry is 11.6%, while Partners sites at 10.2%.

The company is currently getting the largest share of all adviser new business. Ballantyne says 34% of new business is written by Partners and the next biggest is sitting on 20%.” Click here to read more 

In other news 

From Good Returns: Looking forward to full licensing - but don't wait too long

From Good Returns: Educating the educated - Code Standards 6, 7, 8 and 9

Co-Op Bank CEO hits the road

Partners Life: Expressions of interest now open for our 3 day New Adviser Training Course

FSC's Consumer Engagement Committee project:

The QPR team have been working hard to implement changes to our website and Research in order to keep up with the changes in our fast-paced industry. 

Recent updates to Quotemonster: 

• Quoting to reflect Life buyback is in-built for Asteron Life (TPD only) 

• Enabling Class 5 TPD Accelerated Any Occupation for Asteron Life (occupation needs to be verified with the insurer)

• Previously the QPR package score was based on the main client, we have now separated this so that each client will show their own package score according to the selected benefits. The star rating is an average of all the clients in the quote.   

• New drop-down menus option in “Settings”

• To update your Product or Occupation Setting, click “Quote Settings”
• To update your Adviser Profile or Security Setting, click “User Settings"
• To update your Needs or SOA Setting, click “Needs Analysis Settings” (only available to Advicemonster subscribers)

• For Advicemonster users, we have made a couple of changes to the SOA report. We have improved the formatting in the summary recommendations table to make it easier to edit and stopped TPD from appearing in the product options table when TPD is not selected. 

• New “Service Status” feature located at the bottom of your Quotemonster screen. This will provide updates on any upcoming maintenance or current technical issues with our website

Recent updates to QPR Research:

• AIA Cancer Care rated (select this in your Product Settings Screen)

• Cigna – Assurance Extra policy document 12/04/2021 loaded (no rating changes applied)
• Westpac – Term cover policy document 15/03/2021 loaded
  • Life - no rating changes applied
  • Trauma  - rating changes applied

Rating reviews:

• Life
  • Inflation Adjustment – re-rate for all companies (rating added for MAS)
  • Special Events Increase – re-rate for all companies
• Trauma
  • Exclusions re-rate for Co-Operative Bank
  • Inbuilt Childs Trauma – re-rate for all companies
  • Diabetes mellitus (adult) renamed to Severe Diabetes – re-rate for all companies
  • Benign brain and spine tumour – re-rate for all companies
  • HIV- Medically Acquires – re-rate for AIA
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis – re-rate for Partners Life
  • Inflation Adjustment – re-rate for all companies
  • Cancer Critical – minor re-rate for Kaposi Sarcoma only
• Medical
  • Overseas treatment re-rate for nib
  • Diagnostic Tests re-rate for all companies 
  • Minor Surgery amount score correction for nib 
• Income Protection & Mortgage Protection
  • Rehab and Modifications re-rate for AIA
• TPD
  • Inflation Adjustment – re-rate for all companies

The Co-operative Bank has announced that it is set to pay out annual rebates to customers.

This year $2.1 million of the Bank’s works to exemplifies the bank’s effort to see through their commitment of doing right by New Zealanders. David Cunningham, CEO of The Co-operative Bank, has stated that the rebates pay out and commitment to prioritising customer needs is the Banks’s way of adapting to customer needs. The remaining profit will be used to fund new product development.

Chatswood's Bank and direct price comparison survey has been updated and is available for purchase. Please contact me directly for more details of the changes since the last update was done in April 2017.

Co-op Bank has appointed a new CFO, who will also head up the insurance business, Bevan Miller. Formerly CFO of the NZX.

Here is a list of when the upgrade benefit come into effect for each insurer.

In an article titled "co-op cock-up" Alex McDonald, a barrister specialising in intellectual property disputes, examines the use of the term "co-op" by both a service business supporting credit unions and The Co-operative Bank. There are five concluding points useful for anyone contemplating a re-branding or the role of brand names in their business. The first point, to have the courage to stand out from the crowd, is the foundation. Without that you will fail to create something distinctive and interesting, limiting scope for both positive brand value contribution and effective defence of any value created. Read the whole article. 

Premium Comparison V82 has now been distributed to all subscribers, this version included the following changes:

• Updated OnePath Income Protection and Mortgage Protection rates effective 1/12/15
• Added OnePath LOE Ultra to Income Protection Indemnity tables
• Added Class 4 to Mortgage Protection for all companies
• Updated Co-op life and trauma rates effective 23/11/15
• Added Southern Cross Trauma (Standalone)

The Bancassurance Premium Comparison V11 has also been released and includes these changes:

• Added AA Life rates
• Updated Co-op life and trauma rates effective 23/11/15
• Added Southern Cross Trauma (Standalone)

Co-op Bank life insurance has revised life and Trauma rates. Life rates changes vary from nil (at age 35) to increases of up to 7% (older than 35). But they do vary across age, gender, and smoking status, so you need to check the revised premium comparison database version 8.2 or bancassurance premium comparison database version 1.1. Trauma rates (stand alone) have increased by 10% across the board and is included in both the databases above. 

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Bancassurers Market Share Near 40%