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KPMG has published a document that is based on insurer information ranging from market position, revenue, profit growth, capital strength, as well as profit and capital company. The document was prepared using publicly available data obtained from audited financial statements filed with the New Zealand Companies Office. There were several requirements applied to determine which insurer qualified to be included. These requirements are:

·       Currently registered as a licensed insurer in New Zealand on 31 December 2020;

·       Filed financial statements with the Companies Office; and

·        Described its main activities in the audited financial statements as either selling or reinsuring life insurance products. 

Those included were categorised into three groups:

·       Top 10 Direct;

·       Other Direct;

·       Reinsurers

Click here to read more

In other news

AIA: Senior Learning Designer role advertised

FMA: Liam Mason appointed as new General Counsel

MAS: PX Administrator/Project Coordinator role advertised

Asteron Life is holding webinars on 27 May at 2pm and 3 June at 9.30am. The webinars will be focused on Trauma Benefits. Today’s webinar will be run by Kirsten Young and next week’s webinar will be run by Crush Huston. During the webinar, both Kristen and Crush will go through how each benefit work individually and when combined. Advisers that want to attend are encouraged to contact the Asteron Life Business Development team.

“I would like to extend an invitation to you for our upcoming webinar on Trauma Benefits. This webinar will cover:

• Trauma Recovery
• Continuous Trauma
• Major Trauma
• Early Stage Cancer
• Early Stage Trauma
• Cancer Cover
• Kids Cover

Join Crush Huston or Kirsten Young as they showcase how each of these benefits work on their own, as well as together. To attend one of our two sessions, please find the date and time below which works best for you, then click the link to add the invite to your calendar.”

In other news

Cigna: Nicolette Luke finalists for the MAS - Medical Assurance Society Young In-house Lawyer of the Year Award 2021

Southern Cross:  Account Manager – SME

From Insurance Business Mag: Are insurers vulnerable to cyberattacks?

AIA: Group Pricing Specialist role advertised

Asteron Life: Northern Busines Development Manager role advertised

AIA held their AIA Summit at the Park Hyatt. The summit was organised to inspire and encourage over 130 advisers to focus on their health and wellbeing. The summit was made up of local and international speakers that focused on AIA Vitality's four wellbeing pillars. AIA NZ chief partnership insurance officer Sam Tremethick noted that it is AIA’s purpose to help New Zealanders live healthier, longer, better lives. Tremethick has said that speakers provided thought-provoking insights and inspirational ideas.

“The summit was held at the Park Hyatt in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter on Thursday last week and in line with AIA NZ’s flagship AIA Vitality programme, the conference was dedicated to inspiring and encouraging more than 130 advisers to look after their health and wellbeing so they can be the best they can be for their team, their business, their clients - and most importantly - for themselves.

AIA NZ chief partnership insurance officer Sam Tremethick says the last year has been challenging for everyone so it’s important to prioritise health and wellbeing.

"This is something the team here at AIA NZ are really passionate about - our purpose is to help New Zealanders live healthier, longer, better lives.

"We are leaders in our industry and we want to lead this important conversation with our advisers and the wider market,” Tremethick says.

The event offered a line-up of international and local guest speakers, laddering up to the overall theme of AIA Vitality's four wellbeing pillars - Think Well, Eat Well, Move Well and Plan Well.

“Our opening guest shared some thought-provoking insights into what drives high performance, and the importance of being in the moment," Tremethick says.

“We also heard from Claire Turnbull, our AIA Vitality partner from Mission Nutrition, who provided inspirational ideas on eating well, and the value of forward planning when it comes to the food we use to fuel our bodies.” Click here to read more 

In other news

AIA: Policy documents will be sent to customers via email from 21 May 2021

AIA: Policy welcome pack/policy documents will be sent by email from 21 May 2021

AIA: Alignment of Change of Ownership forms for AIA Real and AIA Living/Ex-Sovereign policies available on Adviser Resources

AIA: Adviser Webinars replacement assessment updates in eApp to be held Thursday 27 May 2021 and Tuesday 1 June 2021

AIA: Questions to David Beckham

Home purchase has been a major driver for bringing new households into comprehensive insurance planning. Fewer, older, homeowners, reduces the numbers in that pathway to cover considerably. Some flow remains, but the people are older, and more likely to have gained some coverage through other pathways. Financial advisers have been more flexible in identifying prospects through other life events such as immigration, starting new employment, and the birth of a child. They have also been more adept at offering insurance to renters. 

Household budgets under pressure from the increased costs of housing have less room for expenditure of all other types. 

Increasing debt levels are usually well correlated with increasing levels of coverage, so this is a broadly positive for insurance, but balanced by the budget issue, which is reducing the share of households with mortgage debt, and increasing the share renting. 

24 May 2021 - Results of the 2020 New Zealand Consumer Survey, conducted every two years by MBIE’s Consumer Protection team, became available. https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/news-and-media/new-zealand-consumer-survey-2020/

25 May 2021 – FMA media release titled “Thousands of young New Zealanders missing out on investment returns”, referencing fund choice in KiwiSaver. https://www.fma.govt.nz/news-and-resources/media-releases/nz-missing-out-on-investment-returns/

25 May 2021 – Treasury confirmed that the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme will conclude on 30 June 2021. The scheme was established in March 2020 to support small and medium businesses to access credit for cashflow, capital assets and projects related to, responding to, or recovering from, the impacts of COVID-19. https://www.treasury.govt.nz/news-and-events/news/business-finance-guarantee-scheme-conclude-30-june

Introduction

The rising costs of specialist imaging and medical tests really shows the importance of having medical coverage in the world we live in today. 

An adviser recently informed us of a significant feature two insurers have included in their Diagnostic Tests benefit. Partners Life will apply a $250 standard excess for these claims, regardless of if the selected excess is $250 or above. Furthermore, in a policy year, the excess will only be deducted once at the first claim, then no additional excess will be applied in that period. In contrast, Southern Cross does not apply any excess for their Diagnostic Imaging or Tests, however, these will need to be performed by an affiliated provider.

To reflect this in our Research ratings we have added the following sub-item:

                “Diagnostics excess is not limited but matches plan excess” 

To clarify, the providers that will apply the selected excess for a Diagnostics Tests claim will have a deduction for this sub-item, while those that offer a lower or nil excess will not.

Sub-items rating

Why is this important?

This is an example of a significant difference that we are able to capture in our Definition scoring. While a lowly weighted item, it surely is important to those customers that have selected high excesses and would not be eligible for a Diagnostic Tests claim with some insurers when the claim level is lower.

Your feedback

We value getting your feedback on how these wordings are being applied to claims you may be aware of. Please email us with details of any recent claims to help us update our understanding.

Doreen Dutt, Research Analyst, Quality Product Research Limited, researcher@qpresearch.co.nz

Statistics New Zealand has a fascinating data explorer for wellbeing - you can find it at this link. For those of you interested in the impact of COVID, you're out of luck as the most recent period included in the survey was for 2018. The two prior periods were 2016 and 2014. It is worth a look. Some things are reassuring - others more worrying: such as the metrics for houses being cold in the winter or for loneliness. 

20 May 2021 - Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hon David Clark, April 2021 diary released with the following potential financial services sector related meetings noted:

• 6 Apr 2021 – RBNZ (Geoff Bascand, Deputy Governor and Toby Fiennes, Head of Financial System Policy Analysis)
• 12 Apr 2021 – Munich Re (Dr Achim Kassow, Member of the Board of Management, Dr Tobias Farny, CE, Asia Pacific & China, John Shewan, Chairman Australasia; Ralph Ronnenberg, MD Australasia)
• 13 Apr 2021 – AON (Dominic Christian, Global Chairman Reinsurance Solutions & Robert De Souza, CE, AON)
• 14 Apr 2021 - Insurance Brokers Association of NZ (Melanie Gorham, CEO & Barry Hellberg)
• 15 Apr 2021 – Financial Services Council Event (Speaking)
• 15 Apr 2021 – Southern Response (Alister James , Chair)
• 15 Apr 2021 – Meeting with Financial Services CEs (Lyn McMorran , Financial Services Federation; Joe Bishop, Police and Families Credit Union; Roger Beaumont, NZ Bankers Association; Dr Suzy Morrissey, Commission for Financial Capability; Jane Wrightson, Retirement Commissioner; Liesl Knox, Avanti Finance; Sue Foley, Westpac; Steven Bendall, ASB; Antonia Watson, ANZ)
• 15 Apr 2021 – Launch of the National Strategy for Financial Capability (Speaking)
• 15 Apr 2021 – Mindful Money (Barry Coates, Founder & CEO)

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2021-05/Hon%20Dr%20David%20Clark%20Proactive%20Diary%20Release%20April%202021.pdf

Tony Vidler directs us to this article by Alan Moore of XY Planning Network. It contains a comprehensive list of all the main methods for charging fees in the investment and general financial advice sector. There are some gems to be picked up for those that work in focused insurance businesses, or run an advice business in which insurance, home loans, and KiwiSaver are significant components. The establishment of a good fee schedule and methodology provides a valuable hedge against concerns about the fee model. Having one does not mean one cannot support the other - you can offer fee options as alternatives to commissions and also hybrids of the two. Do check it out.