moneyblog

ACC reveals billion dollar fall-related claims data

Apparently falling over is the most common way Kiwi's injure themselves. In 2018 ACC spent $1.1 billion on fall-related claims. The number is claims increased to 785,063 up from the 781,122 received the previous year. Click here to read more. Any kind of information like this reminds me that while avoiding the risk is a great place to start (wear sensible shoes, think safety first, use a grab rail, get fitter) there is no way I would want that as my only strategy. Some mitigation and then financial risk transfer is definitely in the picture. 

 

Australia: APRA and ASIC release new life claims data

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (the agencies) have published data on life insurance claims and claims related disputes for the period 1 January 2017 to 30 June 2017. Click here to read more.  Below are some of their findings - well worth a detailed review.

 

Legacy customers should not be given less attention than newer customers... but there is more than one way to do that

The Financial Markets Authority and Reserve Bank concluded that those considered to be legacy customers, clients who currently are operating on policies that are no longer on offer to new clients, should not be disadvantaged as a direct result of current employees lacking relevant knowledge on retired policies. Current operations in place to service clients who wish to remain on legacy policies, include placing the workload on a number of experienced employees who have knowledge on the various retired policies.

Our regulators suggested in the conduct and culture report suggest that insurance companies invest in employee training on legacy products, and through this, insurance companies are able to ensure that all customers are able to experience optimal customer service. (Click here to read more).

But there are other approaches, and there really have to be. As most insurers will know, training staff on what could be an ever-growing range of products must have a limit in terms of effectiveness. Sooner or later you need to shift people from legacy products, and build new products with terms that allow you bring them with you - rather than isolate them on 'legacy island'.

Cancer deaths by type

You can change the country and explore the data sources in the chart above.

New Medical Insurance Premium Comparison

The new medical insurance premium comparison is now on Tableau server and in the Premium Comparison Dropbox. It has the following changes:

• Update to Partners Life rates effective 31/12/18.
• Update to nib rates effective 1/1/19.
• Update to Sovereign policy fee effective 1/1/19
• Update to Accuro rates effective 1/3/19 (but being publicly quoted from 31/1/19)

Holiday reading: The Healthy Country? A History of Life and Health, Alistair Woodward

I've just finished reading "The healthy country? A history of life and death in New Zealand" by Alistair Woodward. I found it well worth the read. The issues of health and death are central to the role of insurers of people. This book is a treasure trove of information about the history of those things, and also provides some interesting ways of looking at the future of them too. There are reminders of the kinds of things that you realise are obvious after you read them, but which one obviously was not continually conscious of. For example, for a public policy  to affect mortality much, its effects must be widespread. Another example, that causes of death at the individual level are not the same as the causes of incidence at the population level. Another: that mortality changes can be large - witness the massive reduction in heart disease-related deaths, and the reduction in lung cancer deaths currently being experienced. It also make awkward reading when faced with evidence of the impact of European colonisation on Maori. Thanks to Jeremy Bernstein for the recommendation. As a consequence of reading this one of my New Years' resolutions is to revise my stats knowledge. Link to Amazon page, summary, and reviews.

Recent reading: Factfulness - Hans Rosling

Hans Rosling liked to ask audiences to estimate the answers to questions. He would ask people to estimate what proportion of the global population is poor, and whether that proportion has been getting better or worse. He would ask audiences to estimate the participation rates of poor children in schools, and whether that was getting better or worse. You can probably guess - most audiences tended to have a very pessimistic view of what has been going on, when in fact many things are getting a lot better. He acknowledged only one area that, at a macro level was worse: the environment. But to stay on target, issues like child mortality, have got a lot better over time. More at this link. The book, Factfulness, was one I read during the year - and is well worth a look. I have an emerging view that the insurance sector needs to rediscover its cause-related alignment of years past. Helping people live longer, healthier, and more productive lives is the place where insurers' and consumers' goals are closely aligned. We should put more focus there.

 

 

Towards Prosperity Research Launch

It was great to see the FSC launch the Towards Prosperity research on Thursday night. Some results might surprise those with a solidly agrarian view of the New Zealand economy:

• Financial services is a large part of our economy – in fact larger than the average for the OECD 28.
• Our contribution isn’t limited to the larger cities, with growth shared throughout the regions as well.

There is lots more to discover, in a pack which is a great grounding for more specific work that you may do for clients, channel managers, or advisers. You can download your copy here: Download Toward Prosperity - Financial Services Council - Research into the Financial Services Sector December 2018

World AIDS Day

This Friday the 30th of November is World Aids Day. 42% of Kiwis say they would feel uncomfortable eating food prepared by someone living with HIV, and 46% of New Zealanders would be uncomfortable letting their child play with a child living with HIV. That's a shame, disease is conquered by science, not by prejudice. The major aim of World AIDS Day for NZAF is to help end HIV stigma. That would help a lot in terms of getting the right things done - people getting tested, taking steps to prevent the spread of the disease, and eventually we can end HIV. The insurance industry has some way to go to help out - we could change policy wordings and cover HIV, as has been shown by AIA's recent changes to their medical policies.

 

Latest Goodreturns Article - four million lives saved

Here is the link to my latest piece on goodreturns. Which is something of a good news story.